Anderson Silva: ‘You see Jon Jones? He’s my copy!’

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is known for putting on dramatic performances inside the octagon. On multiple occasions, “The Spider” has been seen dropping his hands down while he either slips his opponent’s punches or taunts them into standing toe-to-toe with him.

Silva’s showmanship has produced many memorable moments, such as his devastating knockout of Forrest Griffin at UFC 101 or his destruction of Stephan Bonner at UFC 153. In both of those instances, Anderson dared his competitors to give him their best shots by leaving his chin out and hands low, while stepping away from the oncoming attacks with ease, all while delivering his perfectly timed counter punches.

Simply put, Anderson Silva’s unique abilities give him the capability to create true art while inside of the cage.

However, in Silva’s most recent octagon appearance against Chris Weidman at UFC 162, his Roy Jones Jr. like antics ended up costing him dearly. With his hands at his waist, Silva was caught by a clean left hand from Weidman that resulted in the first loss of his UFC career.

Nevertheless, Silva says that’s his own style and it’s something he won’t change, as he told “Fight Hub TV” in a recent interview:

“This is me, definitely. Don’t question this guys, because this is me, this is me,” he emphatically declared. “I don’t change nothing. This is me, Anderson.”

And while he agrees with one of Bruce Lee’s mantras of being yourself and an individual, he says it isn’t necessarily bad to do what others do inside the cage or the ring. Which is why he sees current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones as a “copy” of himself:

“Yeah, of course. You see Jon Jones? He’s my copy!”

Granted, “Bones” style isn’t necessarily the mirror-image of Silva’s, but the two do usually share one thing in common once they step inside the cage, and that’s dominance.