Anderson Silva‘s recent victory over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in Brooklyn, N.Y., has come with much scrutiny over the scoring.
Brunson even watched and scored the fight, issuing his personal assessment of the scoring on his Facebook page, incredulous at how the judges arrived at a unanimous decision for Silva.
Apparently fed up with the criticism, Silva issued his own open letter on Facebook, addressing the critics and the haters, proclaiming he had the right to be “arrogant” about his position in the fight game.
Silva’s letter in full:
Nowadays it’s easy to say that the fight is my root, there is a lot of people who talk about fighting and do not know what it says. So when you go up in the octagon, first look who I am, respect who got where I came from. I arrived very well, without disrespecting anyone, with much struggle and pride in the chest.
So, you who talk too much, find out first who I am and what I did in this sport.
Many people find me arrogant and overbearing? I can be it and more, not because I am considered the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world. No, no, it’s my feats, that’s what I really did for this sport. I broke barriers all over the world where I fought, Pride, Shooto, Mecca and other events that these speakers have never heard of and do not know what they are like. I am from a different era, when had no weight limit or time limit. I really fought for passion, not for money or fame. Speakers and frustrated fighters, who read this text, I can be arrogant, arrogant and much more than that, I am Anderson Silva, who made and makes a difference in sports.
I’m not afraid and I do not flee fighting, I defended the belt for 10 years, none of the last champions managed to defend for more than 3 fights.
So thank you to all who like me and those who do not like me, they will have to accept that Anderson da Silva, The Spider, is a fact and cannot change. I’m the best in the world, yes! To the joy of many and the sorrow of others.
I can only say that we will soon see ourselves in the octagons of life.
