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06/01/09 - Anderson Silva begins preparing for April title defence
Anderson Silva has already begun preparations for a defence of his UFC middleweight title belt in April.
He is rumoured to be facing Thales Leites at UFC 97 and while the fight has not yet been officially confirmed, Silva says he is reasonably sure the bout is on.
I think it will be against him, yes.... he will have the opportunity to fight for the belt, I hope he is training,” Silva told Tatame.
“Fighting a Brazilian is always complicated,” he added. “But we are professionals and we do our work.”
Silva last fought at UFC 90, where he unsettled Patrick Cote with mind games before watching his challenger collapse with a torn knee ligament.
Some fans were confused by Silva’s decision to play a footwork game rather than immediately engage in exchanges with the durable kickboxer.
But if Silva’s training regimen for UFC 97 is anything to go by, there will be fireworks in this next fight.
Aside from training in Las Vegas with Randy Couture, Silva has been working with legendary boxing coach Freddie Roach.
At present he is Curitiba polishing up his Muay Thai skills and in a few weeks he will move to Rio “to Rio to start physical preparation with my training personnel. André Galvao, Ronaldo Jacare - the whole gang is there!”
UFC 97 is set to take place on Saturday April 18th at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
John Joe O’Regan
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