Erick Silva: Welterweight Title Not Part of My Plans Right Now

Though many have pointed to the 28-year-old Brazilian as a welterweight title contender in the making, Silva believes he has plenty of time to reach his full potential.

“I think it’s still too soon. To be honest, I’m not at all worried about the title belt right now,” Silva said during Saturday’s post-fight press conference after beating Jason High at UFC on Fuel TV 10. “All I want to do is do my work. I’m just going to wait for the UFC to schedule my next fight, and when they do, I’m going to focus on it. If I could do 20 fights before the belt, I would. When I go for the belt, I want to have it around my waist, so I want to have a lot of knowledge and experience. But [a title fight] is not at all part of my plans now.”

Despite his measured attitude, Silva nevertheless advanced his position in the welterweight division with his victory over High -- a superior performance that saw the Brazilian catch “The Kansas City Bandit” with a beautiful inverted triangle-armbar after sprawling on a takedown attempt and taking the American’s back. The 71-second triumph was the 16th victory of Silva’s career and served to dampen the memory of his unanimous decision defeat this past October to highly-regarded veteran Jon Fitch.

“[After my loss to Fitch], I had to improve in each different area, so I looked for good teachers who could help me focus on the different areas, [like] jiu-jitsu and muay Thai,” Silva told Fox Sports after his win at Paulo Sarasate Gymnasium in Fortaleza, Brazil. “I’m really happy with how the fight went. I’m a really good striker, but I’m really good on the ground, too. I just trained a lot and did my best.”