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Anderson Silva Joins Jose Aldo as Fighters Feeling Disrespected by UFC

Anderson Silva Joins Jose Aldo as Fighters Feeling Disrespected by UFC

It appears interim featherweight champion Jose Aldo isn't the only fighter that is unhappy with his treatment by UFC officials. You can now add Anderson Silva to that list.

“Man, it’s complicated to talk about it. I didn’t even get a ‘thank you’ from Dana or Lorenzo after my last fight. I was the one who wanted to fight, of course, I took the fight, but I know what I’m worth, my importance.,” Silva said about his UFC 200 bout with Daniel Cormier in an interview with Brazilian website UOL, as translated by MMAFighting's Guilherme Cruz.

“I was really disappointed with the lack of respect from the UFC towards Brazilian athletes. I’m an athlete who took the sport to another level. I don’t get or ever got the respect from people. That made me really upset, sad and disappointed with the UFC.”

Silva's comments follow those of Aldo, who recently demanded his release from the UFC after complaining that the promotion appears to be handing the reigns to Conor McGregor. He feels that the sport is being bypassed by the spectacle of “money fights.”

RELATED > Jose Aldo Asks for UFC Release, Threatens to Retire

Silva hadn't said anything about his feeling unappreciated following the Cormier fight until it came to light that he wasn't so much asked, as told to be at the ready should Michael Bisping or Dan Henderson have to drop out of their UFC 204 headlining bout.

“It’s more absurd how that (offer) came. They didn’t even talk to me,” recounted Silva. “My representatives came as a messenger pigeon. I'm not the type of guy to get messages. After everything I’ve done, I still have to stand by and wait for a fight I won? I found it a little unpleasant.

“I will say it again: I’m really disappointed with the way they have treated me, very upset with all that. I was not the one who said I was the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Dana said that. Maybe he said that to promote the event or because he really thought that. We will never know the truth,” he continued.

“The fact is that everything I’ve done, no one else could do. I don’t want to be cocky or arrogant or think I’m the best, but what I’ve tried to do all those years was to show I was different from the others. And that’s not my opinion, but everyone’s.”

What happens now is anyone's best guess. Aldo and Silva are both under contract, so it wouldn't be easy for either to walk away if they ever want to fight again in the UFC or elsewhere. But it certainly doesn't play in the UFC's favor to have two of its top fighters publicly airing their grievances.

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