Anderson Silva can relate to Conor McGregor but believes he should have fulfilled his contract obligations.
Anderson Silva detested press conferences. The former UFC middleweight champion, who ruled as divisional king for seven years, tried to avoid the media as best he could in the lead up to a fight.
This resentment towards fight promotion is what enabled 'The Spider' to sympathize with Conor McGregor for being pulled from July's UFC 200pay-per-view.
"I understand, I've gone through this in the past many times," Silva said recently to Fairfax media, per Liam Ducey of The Sydney Morning Herald. "As a fighter, we think our job is to go in there and fight ... I know as a fighter how hard it is to leave your country in between camps to go on promotional tours.@
'The Notorious' was pulled from his welterweight rematch with Nate Diaz after it was revealed that he refused to attend a press conference in Las Vegas. McGregor made demands on Facebook, stating that he wanted some time off from promotional work to focus on avenging his loss to Diaz, but the UFC didn't budge from their position. Taking McGregor's prime slot are Daniel Cormier and Jon Jones, who will settle their rivalry in a light heavyweight title unification bout in the main event of UFC 200.
While Silva can certainly relate to the Irishman's power struggle withDana White and co., the 41-year-old also understands the UFC's perspective.
"I've done all that and I've disagreed with it a few times, but I understand both of their sides. I think that neither the UFC nor McGregor are 100 per cent wrong. I do think that once you sign a contract, which includes promoting an event, then that's what you have to do."
Although MMA's premier promotion have rejected McGregor's demands, the Dublin-based fighter continues to stoke the fire on Twitter. McGregor rocked the Twittersphere on Monday with a series tweets staking his claim as the prizefighting king.
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