The UFC held their traditional pre-fight press conference today for UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar.
The press conference was held at the Windsor Barra Hotel in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
In attendance were UFC main card fighters Anderson Silva, Stephan Bonnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Dave Herman, Glover Teixeira and Fabio Maldonado.
Check out the highlights below thanks to MMAmania.com.
Anderson Silva
- It’s harder to stay at the top than to get to the top.
- Fighting Jon Jones will not happen
- I never sought this. I just wanted to be as good as my coaches. I just wanted to be better than the day before. I remember every day where I came from and where I want to get to.
- Nogueira is a natural leader. We have a lot of great athletes at the gym.
Stephan Bonnar
- I believe Anderson Silva will be focused. I won’t lie, I’m not the most confident person but if you go back and watch my fights in the UFC, I always fight my ass off. Saturday will be no different.
- I’m a little superstitious and the number 13 is coming up a lot with this fight. I’ve got a kid coming, this is a Rocky movie. I’m not a guy that’s had the best luck.
- I have a plan for victory but I’m not sharing it with you.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
- I work out with a huge team. That’s why we have over seven members at this event. I always joke that I’ll only retire when they stop. I get motivation from the younger fighters and the kids who want to practice MMA in the gym. We are able to exchange the experiences and new things. I came from a very serious lesion in my arm and it’s a great victory to come back to the Octagon and I’m gonna come back strong. This was a huge inspiration to come back and it’s lucky due to my guys and my team to continue fighting.
- I like playing with my hands. I’m ready for the stand-up and for the floor. I think that’s how the fight will start.
- I prefer these moments. Our team in fact is many different champs who got together to train together. Junior Cigano came later. We had 10 fighters, had a brilliant career and I prefer to look at it that way. We have 74 fighters today and we have seven fighters working at Saturday’s event. I’m always looking at myself physically with what I’m doing. I don’t see it in terms of responsibility but in terms of support.
Dave Herman
- Minotauro is a top 10 heavyweight in the world and I’d love to break into those ranks.
Glover Teixeira
- Fighting in Brazil against a Brazilian will happen more often, I would like to not see that happen but it will be a great fight
- I learned the samurai mentality from Lyoto Machida
- The fight starts standing but we’ll see how it goes.
Fabio Maldonado
- Fighting Brazilians is a part of the sport. As you see great Brazilians continue to enter the UFC, it’ll happen more and more often. For Brazil, it will be better. I’m really happy about being here. I have no problem and I respect him greatly. I think he’s a great athlete but I’m gonna go after him, I really am.
- Well he is what he is. Yes, he is a great fighter. He deserves this kind of attention. he’s a tough guy. He won’t be fighting Jon Jones because I’m going to stop him before that. I’m going to give him the best I have and a lot of blood. It’s going to be 15 minutes of a lot of blood. He’ll be fighting the best Fabio Maldonado there’s ever been. I think he’s going to try to take me to the ground. I don’t feel disrespected. I think he’s top 10 in the UFC and he deserves to be here before I was but he had the personal issues. I know how tough he is. It’s not him. I think other people have disrespected me but not Glover.
