Thiago: “I wanna be the UFC champion”

By Guilherme Cruz

Photo Josh Hedges

Thiago Silva showed against Keith Jardine why he’s one of the biggest light heavyweight fighters in the world this Saturday, at UFC 102. Against the man who did a 15 minutes war against Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Silva just needed 95 seconds to land him on the mat and celebrate the victory.

“I was ready for the five rounds, but I did a good game and the opportunity came earlier”, said Thiago to TATAME.com, revealing the strategy for the fight. “I trained everything ,stand up and ground game. I work on opportunities… If I see that the stand up game is good to me, I’ll do it standing. If I see I’m not in advantage, I try to take it to the ground. I was ready to do that game, hunt him and waiting for him to try to punch me and open his guard to put the right hand”.

With the good victory, Silva says Lyoto Machida still is his focus, but he won’t chose opponents. “I se myself as a tough fighter. I’m back to competition and I won’t chose fights. I’ll fight whoever UFC wants, but I’m looking for my rematch. I’m reday to fight the best, I wanna be the UFC champion”, said Thiago, revealing what Dana White said after his victory. “He said he has good plans to me and wants to see me fighting soon, so I’ll do my job. I’ll be ready”.