Former WEC light heavyweight champion, Brian Stann has explained that he hasn’t taken offence to Wanderlei Silva not wanting to fight him inside the octagon, as well as revealing his UFC 130 fight with Jorge Santiago is a better one for him anyway. Speaking via MMAFighting.com, Stann said:
“I buy his reason because I don’t see Wanderlei ever having to lie to anybody about anything. He’s got nothing to prove for the rest of his life, as far as I’m concerned, especially in this sport. Any time that I have actually met Wanderlei, which is very few, he’s just been an amazing guy. He’s been a champion. So I certainly didn’t take it as an insult or anything of the sort. I just took it as it wasn’t the right time or the place, and I knew I was kind of even rolling the dice to get that fight anyways.”
“At the end of the day, I got a better fight. I love Wanderlei, he’s the guy that I said since the WEC that would be my dream fight just because I always loved watching him fight, but let’s face it, Jorge Santiago is ranked in the top 10 for the last two years. This is a better fight for me.”
“I know Santiago wanted to get a title shot right away when he came over due to being a world champion, and being a champion in Sengoku is certainly justifiable a world champion due to the competition he’s facing. You’re right, it is wide open. When Okami leaves, everybody else there has already fought [Silva] and lost, so the UFC has to decide, do they want to have a rematch or, if I can get passed Jorge Santiago and maybe Michael Bisping is knocking at the door, Nate Marquardt is looking to move to 170, so there’s a lot of question marks there, and they will need a new face.”
Stann, a former U.S. Marine, has certainly made waves at 185 pounds after dropping down, stopping Mike Massenzio in the third round with a triangle choke before knocking out the always tough, Chris Leben in the very first round just last month. Stay tuned to MMABay for more build-up to this one as we get it.
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