Thales Leites: ‘I can get that belt’ from Anderson Silva at UFC 97
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Quoteworthy:
“At the last WEC, I was there with my friend Jose Aldo, I was in his corner and I met Joe Silva. He came up to me and said ‘congratulations for your title shot’ and that when I continued to fight on after taking that illegal knee from Marquardt, at that moment, he thought ‘this kid deserves a title shot’…. It’s the biggest opportunity of my life. I know I am in the position now that everyone would like to be in. In my mind, I see a good fight. If I have to fight him in the stand-up then I will, and if he has to fight on the ground with me, I know he will fight me on the ground — that’s what makes it an interesting fight. He has a lot of skills, but he is not unbeatable; he is a man, like everyone else. I feel good. I don’t mind if people call me the underdog, if people don’t believe in me. The most important thing for me is that I believe in me, my family, my coach, my team. If they believe, I can do whatever I want. I have been training a long time for this. Something inside me tells me that I can do this. I will get out of that cage with the belt, no matter what happens. I can beat him, he can beat me; it will be a huge fight. But I believe I can get that belt.”
Number one middleweight contender Thales Leites is certainly not short on confidence heading into his main event match against 185-pound champion Anderson Silva at UFC 97: “Redemption” from the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 18. The Brazilian also indicates that matchmaker Joe Silva was impressed with his ability to continue against Nate Marquardt after receiving a brutal illegal knee in a fight last year that clearly had him seeing stars. That may do little for those fans out there who feel Leites is undeserving of the opportunity to fight for a title. What say you?
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