Anderson Silva says he was never knocked out in training, was knocked down in early September
Former UFC champion Anderson Silva said he misspoke during an interview with MMA Weekly in September in which he claimed to have been knocked out twice in sparring. Silva, who fights social media star Jake Paul in a boxing match on Saturday at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, noted in a statement that English is his second language.
It is not clear who allegedly knocked him out, though he has been training with 2020 Olympic gold medalist Hebert Conceição from Brazil. The interview was done during the media tour to announce the fight, which was held Sept. 12-13. It was published this week.
In a statement released by Most Valuable Promotions, Silva vowed he would knock Paul out on Saturday.
"After seeing the reports and concern for me, I'd like to clarify two important things. One, I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring.
Second, this sparring session I referenced was in early September. The interview with MMA Weekly was done on Sept. 13 and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn't recent.
More importantly, my training camp has been great. I am fit and ready to fight and the only knockout people should be worried about is the one I'm about to deliver to Jake Paul on Saturday night.”
Silva is 3-1 as a professional boxer and had wins in 2021 over ex-world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and former MMA champion Tito Ortiz. He was 34-11 in MMA and held the UFC middleweight title for nearly seven years.
