UFC 153 POST-FIGHT NOTES AND QUOTES

By Mike Johnson on 10/15/2012 10:28 AM

UFC 153 Postfight Show on FUEL TV Quotes – 10/13/12

UFC Stars Chael Sonnen and Urijah Faber Recap UFC 153: SILVA VS. BONNAR

LOS ANGELES, CA – The following quotes are from today’s UFC 153 Postfight Show on FUEL TV, sponsored by Kawasaki, hosted by UFC Host Jon Anik. UFC stars Chael Sonnen and Urijah Faber join Anik, offering analysis from FUEL TV’s Los Angeles studios. Two-time MMA Journalist of the Year Ariel Helwani conducts fighter interviews onsite in Brazil.

“UFC 153 Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Analyst Chael Sonnen on Anderson Silva versus Stephan Bonnar: “Stephan Bonnar fought outstanding. He didn’t look like he went and fought someone on short notice and wasn’t ready, he fought great and Anderson Silva fought even better. Bonnar came straight forward. It was part of his plan. He came out to fight. He had some great moments. This was the story of the fight. This was part one. He had him against the fence and he peppered him against the fence. As soon as Silva creates some space he gets him with the knee to the solar plexus. Stephan fought a perfect fight and he couldn’t have done better. This one knee changed it. I wish we could have seen what would have happened. What was Stephan going to do next? Was Anderson going to get going if they kept fighting a little longer?”

“UFC 153 Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Analyst Urijah Faber on Silva’s victory: “I was surprised to see Anderson was such a risk taker. He was dropping his hands, doing a little rope a dope, doing this thing and taking punches. It’s crazy seeing him be so careless in there against a big guy.”

Faber on getting a knee in the chest like Bonnar did from Silva: “I had a knee that just barely missed my solar plexus from Jose Aldo and it knocked me to the floor and it hurt me for two years. It really takes the wind out of you. It’s hard to recover from.”

Sonnen on taking a knee in the chest like Bonnar did: “It’s completely devastating. I can’t think of anything more painful. Your legs don’t work. It’s absolutely debilitating, especially for someone like Stephan Bonnar who never ever gives up.”

Sonnen on what sets Silva apart from other fighters: “He’s got good eyes. He sees things coming and moves out of the way better than others. Very few things hit him crisp and on the button.”

“UFC 153 Postfight Show on FUEL TV” Insider Ariel Helwani asks Anderson Silva why he was leaning against the fence in the fight: “I trained hard for this. I trained for my team, who helped me for the take down. I trained for the fans, with my jiu jitsu, I trained boxing. This is the win for my team.”

Silva on if any of Bonnar’s punches hurt: “Yeah. Yeah, but I have fast reflexes. I’m the Spiderman.”

Silva on what people in his corner were saying to him during the fight: “Yeah because my coach is sometimes my coach, my dad, my mom. I train hard. I train for the fans. I train for the take down. He talked to me and told me to change positions. I didn’t change positions because I was relaxed. I told my coach to relax, take it easy and trust me.”

Silva on if he wants to fight Jon Jones: “No, this is not my goal. My goal is to stay in my class – 185. This is not my goal.”

Silva on if he’ll fight GSP: “GSP, maybe. I don’t know. Good question.”

Helwani asks Dana White about Anderson Silva’s performance: “He was amazing. With that spinning back kick, he just steps to the side. His corner is yelling at him and he says he’s got this. I want him to be 27 and get 12 more years of this from him. He’s the most amazing fighter ever. And Stephan Bonnar has never been finished ever in the UFC. Anderson Silva always makes it look so easy. The guy is so amazing to watch.”

White on if Anderson Silva will fight Jon Jones: “How many guys in the UFC have said a fight won’t happen? And then it does. Anderson has broken every record in the UFC. He’s 37 and Bonnar is 35. He’s younger. Bonnar is bigger than him. He came to win this fight. Anderson loves the challenge. I think he will take the fight with Jon. Not to mention the fact that the money would be hard for either of them to turn it down.”

White on if Silva would fight GSP instead of Jon Jones: “There’s no doubt who’s the number-one fighter of all time. Then you can argue over who is number two and three. This would clean up the debate of who’s the best fighter in the world. It’ll be about who’s the greatest. But you’ve got to understand, timing is everything. We have shows to run. We can’t sit around and wait. If you think I don’t want to see both these fights happen, you’re crazy. I do.”

Faber on Dave Herman’s performance against Nogueira: “Herman’s coming off two losses and you didn’t really see that desperation that you’d think would be there. He was dropping his hands, his chin was straight up, and Nogueira is a technical fighter and he was just the veteran tonight. You saw it from beginning to the end of the fight.”

Sonnen on Minotauro Nogueira’s victory over Dave Herman: “What a great job by Nogueira. Let’s not forget he’s coming off a devastating loss to Frank Mir and a surgery. His arm is all sewn up and he came back and he found a way to win. What I was hoping for tonight was a retirement. I don’t like to kick a guy when he’s down, but Dave Herman’s performance tonight was flat-out unacceptable. Out of shape, bad technique, and he needs to have a serious talk with his coaches and say ‘guys, why don’t I know the first thing about fighting?’”

Sonnen on Nogueira’s toughness: “He’s dog-tough. And the one thing that these heavyweights don’t do a real good job of, statistically speaking is grinding fights out. Nogueira will grind a fight out. Hit him, kick him all you want, Nogueira is not going away. You need to be able to keep that pace up if you can and Dave Herman simply did not show up to do anything close to that.”

Faber on Nogueira’s history: “Nogueira, who is probably one of the most well-rounded fighters in the UFC, and it’s not his technique that’s missing. The man has been through some battles. He’s been in PRIDE, he’s been in the UFC. He’s had a long career and if you give the guy the opportunity, he’s going to take it.”

Nogueira on what he said to Anderson Silva: “Man you are my idol. You fought a fight at home – normally we’re traveling to fight – and you don’t see Brazil that often. I went to his place, we had a meeting, we watched some fights, we talked about what we’re going to do and everything we said happened. We said how we’re going to knock those guys out by punch, left hook, and that’s what we did. We’re happy to fight in Brazil and fight at home. We just live a half-mile from here. He lives a half-mile away, I live a mile from the arena. It’s pretty cool. We’re very happy. He’s a national idol, our champ. I thanked him for all his support. I just had 16 screws up my arm and I didn’t know if I was going back too soon. I would also like to thank the UFC. When I broke my arm, I had a lot of support from Dana White. I flew in his plane when we came back from Canada. Those guys sent me the best doctors from Vail, Colorado who fixed my arm and got me ready. Ten months later I used my right hand to knock the guy out and go to the submission.”

Nogueira on what he wants to do next: “I don’t know. I want to fight a top ten guy. I want to fight the top guys in the UFC. I can’t ask for the belt because my buddy is going to be trying for it and I’m going to help him in the next few weeks in his camp to fight against Cain. I want to help the sport in Brazil. It’d be great to fight the best guys in the heavyweight division.”

Sonnen on Nogueira’s next moves: “When I called for his retirement it was because I’d love to see him go out on top. Ariel just said he’s 2-1 in his last three and the bottom line is he was really winning that Frank Mir fight. I think he’s had a good solid run but he’s also taken a big notch down. He’s coming off an injury, he’s done some great things, but I just love to see him go out on top. At the same time, I love that he just called out a top ten guy. That’s the right thing to do. You want have that heart, you want to believe in yourself, but at the same time, we all get told at some point that we could no longer do this sport. I think his time is coming, but I’d like for him to call that himself and I say that as a fan.”

Faber on what Nogueira should do next: “It’s one thing to say what we feel. It’s another thing to think about what’s in his mind. The guy has the skill, we know that. He feels like he still wants to fight. He’s right there at the top; he’s in the top ten for sure. He’s knocking out big guys. He’s been basically proving his point.”

White on Minotauro Nogueira winning tonight: “He’s a war horse. I’ve got to be honest. I thought Herman was going to knock him out tonight. When you see Big Nog lumber around. He holds on to my shoulder to take his pants off. I wasn’t sure about him. Then what he did in the Octagon was amazing. I told him after the fight, he’s amazing and wonderful and such a good guy. Tonight he’s going again. He’s a legend and a warrior.”

Sonnen on Glover Teixeira’s victory over Fabio Maldonado: “It was flat out amazing how tough Maldonado was. Glover landed a plethora of unanswered punches and just dominated.”

Sonnen on Teixeira’s experience: “Glover was number one training partner of Chuck Liddell. He never got tired and kept hitting him. Maldonado was not happy about it when it was stopped.”

Faber on Maldonado: “Maldonado is like a zombie. He’s like the farmer from ‘Men in Black.’ The guy was extremely tough. He was so upset when the fight was stopped. You’re fighting you want to leave it all out there. He rocked Glover a few times when he looked like he was out.”

Sonnen on Maldonado wanting to continue to fight: “The only one who wanted to see the fight continue was Maldonado. You end it when there’s no chance to see him win. He had the boxing advantage. He can box. He tagged him. Glover went back for another takedown.”

Helwani interviewed Glover Teixeira about Maldonado being so tough to finish: “Yes, I was surprised. This guy was hurt. I couldn’t believe he was still fighting. I didn’t push the hardest to finish because he was slippery. And I didn’t get the grip right. And he kept fighting”

Teixeira on getting hit by Maldonado: “I got caught with left hook. I was off balance. He hit me. I slipped and he hit me. I was a little bit tired because he was grabbing my glove in the first round, but I was good the second round.”

Teixeira on who he wants to fight next: “I don’t care. I want to fight who wants to fight. If he’s not motivated to fight, I don’t want to fight him. I want to fight someone who wants to fight. Rampage has too much money already. I don’t disrespect him. He was my idol. He was awesome. I respect him.”

Sonnen on who Teixeira should fight next: “He just missed an opportunity to call out his next fight. Let me help you out with this. He should take on the winner of Shogun versus Gustafsson. I’d like to see him match up the winner. He’s in line for a title fight.”

Faber on who Teixeira should fight next: “I’d like to see him fight Jon Jones. There’s a lot of hype around this guy. I’ve seen him in the WEC and he’s the man. If he doesn’t get him this time, it makes for an interesting matchup later. Let’s see where he measures up now.”

Sonnen on Teixeira fighting Jon Jones: “No disrespect to Glover. Jon Jones is not going to accept the fight unless he thinks he’ll beat you.”

Sonnen on Phil Davis beating Wagner Prado: “Phil didn’t fight very well in first fight. But he did better this time. All he did was wrestle. He started to crack his opponent early, just take him down.”

Helwani asks Phil Davis if he felt pressure to win this fight: “Not too much. The job is the same. You’ve got to get in there and perform. There’s no pressure if you go in there and know what you have to do.”

Davis on getting the choke on Wagner Prado: “He’s one of those guys. He’s so big in the upper body. He’s tough and I had to give him a big squeeze. He’s tough and big guy.”

Davis on how he felt he fought: “I controlled the range. I took minimal damage on my feet. Chael and Rashad, I appreciated the criticism from the last fight. It’s always a pleasure.”

Sonnen on how Phil Davis fought: “I am impressed with Phil. I think he’s a great fighter. My criticism comment was constructive. This time he went out and fought a different fight. Phil, stick with your skills, you’re a wrestler.”

Sonnen on Fitch’s victory: “We should give him the Fighter of the Night award. He had some personal issues that he let everyone know about before the fight. He went into enemy territory, was coming off a loss and really needed to win. He found a way to dig deep and made it happen.”

White on Jon Fitch’s performance: “This whole thing about me and Jon Fitch is a bit of a myth and has been so overplayed. Half the crap you see on internet is not true. Is he not the most exciting fighter? Absolutely. But he was exciting tonight. Erick Silva is incredibly talented and he went in to war with him tonight. This was like when GSP lost to Matt Hughes the first time they fought. This might push that kid to the next level. This was a good lesson for him. But I’ve got nothing negative to say about Jon Fitch.”

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