Ariel Helwani brought "Sensei" Steven Seagal back to the MMA Hour yesterday to talk about Anderson Silva's UFC 162 bout with Chris Weidman. Seagal has been a staple backstage at Anderson Silva's fights since UFC 126. That was the bout when Silva infamously claimed that he learned the front kick that KO'd Vitor Belfort from Seagal.

Seagal was more than happy to take the credit.

Rest assured he hasn't gotten any more humble. Here's some of what he had to say about the fight on yesterday's MMA Hour:

"(Silva's) had some pretty tough times. It was not a cake walk with Chael Sonnen when he was injured badly. That was a real tough time. I don't think it gets too much tougher than that. So do I think it'll be the toughest (fight of his career)? No. But I think this kid (Weidman) is a great kid, great fighter, very strong, great ground game, wonderful fighter, wonderful young man. "Anderson has a lot of great teachers and a lot of great coaches," Seagal said in closing. "I'll give him as much time as I possibly can, but I really have faith in him and I think he's going to do well. "I'm not a soothsayer or anything like that, but I'm kind of hoping and seeing a knockout in third round. That's what I'm hoping for, but we'll see. They're both great fighters. They both deserve a lot of respect."

And here's some of what he had to say about the MMA world:

"We're living in a very, very... this is a strange pond to swim in. It's a very, very, very strange pond to swim in," Seagal said. "There's a lot of people who have no experience in the martial arts who are talking like they've been doing it for 50 years, and talking as if they're masters. There's a lot of people who make up s--t and lie through their teeth. There's a lot of people who have huge egos and huge mouths, love to talk and say a lot of stuff. And then there's people who are really highly accredited people who have been in the martial arts a long, long time. Certainly, we want to hear from them. "They [give] their opinions with respect, which I always try to do. And everybody wants to hear what they have to say. So we're swimming in a pond where there's the good, the bad, and the ugly, and what I try to do is tune into the good and stay around the good."

Truly the MMA world would be a very strange place without Steven Seagal here to keep us grounded.

SBN coverage of UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman



