UFC News: Anderson Silva Willing To Be Embarrassed At The Olympics

It appears that former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will compete at the official taekwondo tryouts in an attempt to secure a spot at the 2016 Olympic games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and he’s willing to get embarrassed in the process.

Silva, 40, failed a post-fight drug test following his fight with Nick Diaz back in January. Since the test failure, “The Spider” has continued to claim that he unknowingly took the banned substances that he tested positive for. Furthermore, Silva won’t be fighting in the UFC any time soon, and he wants to take his skills to the 2016 Olympic games.

Silva admits that he stopped training taekwondo when he was a teenager, and that he’s ready for the road to the 2016 Olympic games in his home country to be a rough one.

“I stopped training taekwondo when I was 17, so it’s going to be tough, because taekwondo is very different today. I’m not worried about being embarrassed by the other athletes. For everything sport gave to me, I will try to give it back. I don’t have anything to prove. I’m here to help the sport and make it stronger.”

While Silva stopped training taekwondo when he was 17, he never stopped watching and studying the sport. Silva has used plenty of taekwondo techniques during his MMA career, so he’s not as rusty as others think he may be.

“I never stopped watching the sport. I always used taekwondo kicks in my MMA fights, but now I have to train taekwondo only and adapt myself. It’s another challenge I have to face, and I’m willing to get embarrassed for it.”

The official tryouts begin next January, and, it appears that the only way Silva will qualify for the Olympics is if he is a heavyweight.

Some people are expecting Silva’s current suspension to get in the way of him competing at the 2016 Olympics, but, Silva doesn’t expect that to be a problem, just like it wasn’t a problem for Chael Sonnen to compete for Metamoris.

“About the commission trying to stop me from competing in the games, I don’t know if that would happen because it’s completely different. But if they stop me, I would respect it.”

If Silva does qualify and is allowed to compete at the 2016 Olympic Games, he will definitely bring a lot of attention to the sport of taekwondo, even if he gets embarrassed doing it.

[Image via Steve Marcus / Getty Images]