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Wanderlei Silva interview
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Wanderlei Silva. Photo: Chris Garcia
Wanderlei Silva is a very busy man. Between training, running his new gym, training his fighters, conducting seminars all over the world and being a family man, he can be very hard to pin down. So, when I got a call from his agent telling me that Wandy, as he is called by his fans, would be available that night, I jumped at the chance.
I arrived at his gym early for our 7:00 p.m. interview. A wall at the entrance is covered with photos of Silva, his professional training partners and his students. After introducing myself, I was told by the receptionist that I could sit in the bleachers and watch the Brazilian jiu-jitsu class while I waited. As the students practiced guard passes, mount escapes and other BJJ basics, my eyes wandered elsewhere. The gym, located at 4631 Dean Martin Drive, resembles an MMA museum as much as it does a working gym. There is a large collection of memorabilia on display—including many of the trophies that Silva won in Japan fighting for the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships—and a sales counter selling everything from nutritional supplements and fight gear to collectible Wanderlei Silva figures. The walls throughout the facility, including Silva's office, are adorned with framed pictures of Silva's fights, awards and articles from Japanese publications.
Near the entrance is a generously equipped play area where children can have fun while their parents train. The gym also has mats, heavy bags, exercise equipment for strength and cardio training and an octagon shaped cage just like the UFC's.
Suddenly, I felt a figure standing beside me. I looked up to see “The Axe Murderer” himself smiling at me. He asked if I was checking out the gym and when I replied that I there to interview him, he said “Let's go!” and led me to his office.
Silva is just 33 years old, but in ring years, he's actually a senior to many of the fighters over the age of 40 that are competing today. His remarkable 13 year, 44 fight career began in his native Brazil, where Silva cut his teeth fighting in the infamous International Vale Tudo Championships (IVC), a bare-rules promotion where headbutts and groin strikes were still allowed. At the age of 22, Silva won his first title when he defeated Eugene Jackson to become the IVC light heavyweight champion. With his star already on the rise, Silva accepted an invitation to fight in Japan for Pride.
At a time when MMA was struggling in America as a result of a nationwide cable television ban, the sport was flourishing in Japan and Silva, with his all-or-nothing style, was an instant sensation. Fans would dance in the aisles as Silva and his Chute Boxe team entourage made their way to the ring while Silva's walk in theme, “Sandstorm” by Darude, blazed over the speakers. He became Pride's first middleweight champion (205 lbs) and would hold the belt for an incredible 5 years, also winning the 2003 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix during that run.
After the UFC purchased and shut down Pride in 2007, Silva signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and moved to Henderson, NV. He recently opened his own gym in Las Vegas and announced tryouts scheduled for November 14 to form two fight teams, one professional and one for amateurs.
In person, Silva is so laid back and friendly that one can hardly believe that he is one of the most ferocious fighters in the sport, the man who once uttered the now famous quote “I promise violence.” While we discussed his fighting career, his training and his future, Silva appeared more excited when talking about helping young fighters start their careers in the sport.
For your upcoming team tryouts, are you looking for fighters with technique or natural ability?
Both. I wanted to open a place for the guys who wanted to be professionals, but wanted to fight as amateurs first and for the guys who were good amateurs or already good professionals and needed opportunities for fights. These guys are gonna train with me and my team. I'm going to take about twenty guys who are gonna train with me for my next camp and I'm gonna look at the guys who are more ready and I'm gonna put these guys in fights soon.
How many fighters are you going to select for each team?
I have space on my mats for a hundred guys and my gym's a really good gym. I have the coaches, I have the equipment and now I want to give this all for the fighters. I'm going to make a lot of good fighters for the future.
Why open a gym now instead of after retirement?
Because now I'm using my gym for training. It's so difficult because I have an aggressive style and it's tough to get guys to train with me. Sometimes in my other gyms, the guys go in and nobody trains with me. These guys will have a great opportunity, no? Because the guys training with me are going to have easier fights in the future because of their hard training. We need to prepare the fighters for tough situations.
Most famous coaches only corner their top professionals in major shows like the UFC or Strikeforce, but you make a point of cornering even your local amateurs. What does it mean to you to be there even for your amateurs?
For me...I didn't make the gym for money. For me, it was my dream. I wanted to give a future for the normal guy, to make it possible for the normal guy training to train like a professional: professional equipment, professional coach, professional partners. And I want to bring this for all. After a guy is in my gym, he's a part of my gym, he's going to always have a future here. And he's going to have me in his corner.
Do you decide who your fighters fight or do they?
I'll always be true to my fighters. It's tough. In all gyms around the world, it's tough to put 20 good guys on the same mat in the same hour. Maybe you get two or seven. I want to make it so that I'm going to have 20 guys, but the other guy is going to have 20 guys. Everybody is going to have 20. It'll be good for all.
I have a lot of connections for a lot of events around the world. And they invite me to send fighters, but I'm going to send good guys. I'm not going to send a guy just to fight. If the guy's not ready, he's not going to fight. If I look at a guy, I'm looking for the guy to have good cardio, good jiu-jitsu, good boxing, good technique and a good style because I'm not going to send a guy to have a bad performance. Every time I send one of my guys for a fight, it's for them to really give a good show. I give this message to all fighters who want to fight: train hard to give a good performance. It's so important.
Who are some of fighters on your team?
Mike Whitehead, Demian Maia...my coaches are really good coaches and I have a lot of Brazilian coaches here. Now I have coaches from all martial arts. One reason why I can have tryouts now for my fighters is because fighters from around the world can come here now and have a lot of guys for training. When a guy comes here we're gonna have 20 guys for him to train with, 20 guys for Mike Whitehead, 20 guys for Demian Maia, for me, for all fighters. And the guys who are a part of my gym are going to have good opportunities for training with those guys, training with Mike, with Demian, with me, with Vitor [Vianna], with Jorge Lopez. Jorge Lopez is the new guy. He's 20 years old and he's had 8 fights now. He won 7, lost 1. He's got a great future. Good hands, good kicking, good takedowns. I'm preparing him for fights in the future. I have Michael Costa, he's a Brazilian guy. He fought in China two weeks ago and had a great performance there. He broke his hand on his opponent's face. He's a tough guy. I have Vitor Vianna. Vitor Vianna is a two time world champion in jiu-jitsu. He's had 11 fights and he's 9-1-1. He lost just one fight, to Thiago Silva in Brazil, because it was a tournament and he hurt his arm in the first fight. He won the first fight, but then in the second fight, Thiago kicked his arm and broke it. He's an incredible fighter. I want to prepare him for a fight in December. Kit Cope's taining here. Kit is an incredible Muay Thai guy. I have the one Italian guy, Massimo [Russo]. He's gonna fight in Atlanta on October 30. I have J.J. J.J's a tall guy, fights 155 and he's very aggressive. After ten good fights, I'm going to try to put these guys in the UFC.
Have you talked about sending some of your fighters to The Ultimate Fighter?
Yeah, I'm going to send my guys, but I want to prepare my guys. This is a new gym and I want to send the guys to win. I'm not going to send them just to try out, I'm going to send my guys after they're ready to win.
Did it surprise you when you returned to the UFC that the fighters were so much bigger in each weight class than they were in Japan?
Yeah, yeah. It's a new moment in this sport. In wrestling the guys cut a lot of weight, in boxing they cut a lot of weight. Now, in MMA, it's more professional. You have guys cutting from 240 to fight at 205 and guys at 210 or 220 dropping to 185. It's tough to fight the big guys, especially for my style, because I'm not afraid. I keep it going...but it's tough to fight the big guys with this style.
You've never had a problem with cardio in your career, so what made you hire Rafael Alejarra as your strength and conditioning trainer?
Because now I'm 33 years old, so I need to prepare more. I need to train more for my fights. You have to stay in good condition and have a good body and raise your performance level. I try to have good cardio to keep fighting for more time.
When you announced your decision to move down to the middleweight division, Anderson Silva got very upset and offered to train Rich Franklin for his fight against you. Were you surprised that he did that, considering that you were once teammates at Chute Boxe?
No, because it's normal today. Everybody trains with everybody. I talked with him in Portland [during UFC 102] and there's no problem. It's done.
Do any of your old Chute Boxe teammates ever come to your gym to train?
I invite the guys for training here and sometimes if guys are gonna fight, they come and train and leave, you know? My gym's an open gym. I have my guys, my guys that are part of my team, but sometimes guys come into Vegas to train here from different teams. They come to use my coaches, to use my Octagon because here in Vegas we have the official sized Octagon. I open my gym for all teams because I've traveled around the world and sometimes you go to other countries and they don't have good gyms for training, so if professional guys want to come here for training, no problem.
What's your proudest professional accomplishment?
I think my fans around the world. Today I travel a lot and every time I go to a different country, I have friends. The fans will come out to me on the street and it's great. I love my fans. For me, it's a great part of my job. My new friends. Every time I have new friends, I love it.
I respect my fans. Feeling my energy, you know? Feeling that I'm alive. I really like my fans and I like to put on a show for them. Feeling respect. I really like my job and I like to give them interesting matches. Every time I talk with my fans, it's like talking with old friends.
Which of your fights do you think was your best performance ever?
I think maybe my second fight with Quinton Jackson was a good match. My first fight with [Kazushi] Sakuraba. My fight with Chuck Liddell was a good match. I'm so happy because I'm fighting the toughest guys in the world and every time I have a good performance.
Special thanks to Wanderlei Silva and Rob Cardenas. For more information on Wand Fight Team, including training schedule and rates, visit http://www.wandfc.com.
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