Anderson Silva Says Missed UFC 162 Media Obligations Was Due to Miscommunication

UFC officials recently fined middleweight champion Anderson Silva $50,000 for skipping some scheduled UFC 162 media obligations, but Silva says it was all a misunderstanding.

Silva was scheduled to meet with several media outlets – including newspapers, websites, and television and radio stations – on Tuesday. He instead passed on the meeting and instead flew home to Brazil.

“We had a full media day set up for him in Los Angeles, and he just decided he didn’t want to do it,” UFC president Dana White told USA Today Sports. “So he’s being fined $50,000.”

Silva, however, gave a different take on the situation in comments he made to Brazilian magazine Veja on Tuesday.

Silva said that what happened was a miscommunication between he and the UFC, according to a report from MMAWeekly.com content partner Yahoo! Sports. He said he was made aware of the appointment only Monday, when he was going to Los Angeles International airport (LAX) to catch a flight to Brazil.

“I’ve never missed a single appointment with UFC,” said Silva. “I would never book a trip to Brazil if I knew I was supposed to be in Los Angeles.

“Everybody knows that I always lock in (media appearances so I can) devote myself to training, which is my priority. I’m an athlete and my focus will always be to train and be ready for the challenges.”

Anderson Silva is scheduled to defend his UFC middleweight championship against Chris Weidman at UFC 162 on July 7 in Las Vegas. The media obligations were scheduled at a time to help promote ticket sales, which begin this week.

(The Veja magazine Anderson Silva segment was translated by Yahoo’s Fernando Arbex.)