It was reported last week by Fightful that Wanderlei Silva had to pull out of the Rizin Openweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals against Mirko Cro Cop. The Croatian heavyweight wasn’t too happy with his rival pulling out of the fight, and now Silva has issued a response of his own.
“My recovery, I couldn’t be able to be 100 percent for this fight,” Silva said in a It was reported last week by Fightful that Wanderlei Silva had to pull out of the Rizin Openweight Grand Prix Quarterfinals against Mirko Cro Cop, the Croatian heavyweight wasn’t too happy with his rival pulling out of the fight and now Silva has issued a response of his own. “My recovery, I couldn’t be able to be 100 percent for this fight,” Silva in a Youtube video posting (transcript provided by MMA Fighting). “I’m a professional, I’d never fight against Mirko or anyone else not being prepared. But what astonished me is that this Croatian, this Mirko Cro Cop guy, called me the best in the world, a legend in front of me, but behind the computer he’s talking a bunch of crap. What kind of man are you to say this crap online and not to my face? Are you only a man in front of the computer, p---y? Who do you think you’re talking to? Don’t worry. It won’t be now, but you’ll get what is yours. I know really well how to catch you. I know you’re afraid of me, coward.” During the same video mentioned above, Silva even claims that Rizin officials offered him a huge sum of money to fight Cro Cop for a third time. “I was offered a large amount of money, I was offered a million dollars,” Silva said. “I could go in there and see what happens. If I fought 30 seconds or a minute, I’d get my prize the same way. But I’m a professional, straightaway, and I’d never do this not being 100 percent to fight. Everybody knows I’m coming off a serious injury. I’m training well and training to be back to my old shape, the real ‘Axe Murderer’. I won’t fight just to fight, I’m fighting to win. Silva is back. Wait for it.” Cro Cop and Silva fought to a draw in their first meeting in PRIDE in 2002, four years later at the PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix, Cro Cop would knock out Silva with a head kick. Rizin 3 takes place on Thursday, December 29 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with Mirko Cro Cop and an opponent to be named headlining.">Youtube video posting (transcript provided by MMA Fighting). “I’m a professional, I’d never fight against Mirko or anyone else not being prepared. But what astonished me is that this Croatian, this Mirko Cro Cop guy, called me the best in the world, a legend in front of me, but behind the computer he’s talking a bunch of crap. What kind of man are you to say this crap online and not to my face? Are you only a man in front of the computer, p---y? Who do you think you’re talking to? Don’t worry. It won’t be now, but you’ll get what is yours. I know really well how to catch you. I know you’re afraid of me, coward.”
During the same video, Silva even claims that Rizin officials offered him a huge sum of money to fight Cro Cop for a third time.
“I was offered a large amount of money, I was offered a million dollars,” Silva said. “I could go in there and see what happens. If I fought 30 seconds or a minute, I’d get my prize the same way. But I’m a professional, straightaway, and I’d never do this not being 100 percent to fight. Everybody knows I’m coming off a serious injury. I’m training well and training to be back to my old shape, the real ‘Axe Murderer’. I won’t fight just to fight, I’m fighting to win. Silva is back. Wait for it.”
Cro Cop and Silva fought to a draw in their first meeting in PRIDE in 2002, four years later at the PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix, Cro Cop would knock out Silva with a head kick.
Rizin 3 takes place on Thursday, December 29 from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan with Mirko Cro Cop and an opponent to be named headlining.
