Kiwi UFC star Israel Adesanya says he knows Anderson Silva inside out ahead of their showdown at UFC 234 in Melbourne on February.
Silva has previously described Adesanya as his "clone" given the remarkable resemblance in their fighting styles but the Kiwi fighter told Submission Radio he was better than that.
"He said one time to Joe Rogan, 'I want to fight my clone,' and I'm better than his clone," Adesanya said.
Adesanya said Silva, widely regarded as one of the greatest UFC fighters ever, was not washed up at 43, though that didn’t diminish his own exuberance.
The Nigerian born Kiwi MMA star could be one more fight away from a middleweight title fight. (Source: Other)
"Look, this is the greatest middleweight of all time… and Anderson Silva going at it. What more could you want?
"He's not Chuck Liddell (who was recently knocked out by Tito Ortiz in his return to the Octagon), don't get me wrong, because of that being so recent people were like, 'oh, how dare you, he's 43,'” Adesanya said.
"Look, last time he was finished was when he broke his leg. He hasn't been losing badly. He beat Derek Brunson. That was a close fight, I guess, but yeah, I think he's just been bored.
"You're going to see a different Anderson, Anderson of old, if you will. Anderson that teeped Vitor Belfort in the face and had me run to my room."
Silva last fought in February 2017 when he beat Derek Brunson by decision.
Since then, he has failed a drug test in October 2017 but USADA later ruled the positive result was caused by a contaminated dietary supplement.
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