Leites confident of Spida upset
Eurosport - Wed, 18 Mar 09:58:00 2009
Thales Leites is confident he will be the first to beat UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the Octagon.
Leites takes on his fellow Brazilian at UFC 97 on April 18 in Montreal with Silva aiming to become the first fighter to win nine straight UFC fights.
Leites (14-1) lost his UFC debut to Martin Kampmann but has since stringed together five straight Octagon wins.
His latest victory came against Drew McFedries in October, but Leites told Eurosport that it was his previous fight against Nate Marquardt that brought his title credentials to the attention of UFC matchmaker Joe Silva.
The 27-year-old, who fights out of Rio de Janeiro, recovered from a sickening illegal knee to the head from Marquardt to record a tough split-decision victory.
"At the last WEC, I was there with my friend Jose Aldo, I was in his corner and I met Joe Silva," Leites said.
"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'."
Leites was quick to recognise the array of skills the pound-for-pound contender can call on and said he was happy being considered a heavy underdog for the fight - especially since many consider that his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt skills could prove to be Silva's greatest test on the ground to date.
"It's the biggest opportunity of my life. I know I am in the position now that everyone would like to be in," said Leites.
"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."
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Comment 1 - 6 of 6
they couldnt stick the power of the rock ferry rattler barny alfa
Jeremy your right, I just hope that silva doesnt retire soon like he said he would. Anyway its gonna be a hell of a fight
Thales has a chance on the ground, but I believe Anderson will win.
did anyone see silva vs jorge rvera when silva basically let jorge ht him 4 or 5 times as a freebie!! how the hell can anyone in mma do that?, his chin is amazing, if you stand with hm you'll definately lose, only a ground master has a chance, so perhaps Thales may be one of those capable.
spider is all about control, granted his overall skills are phenomenal, but at the top level most in the octagon are. But the spider knows how to chop and change the tempo to his desire, hes undoubtedbly one of if not the best in the world right now.
Don't kid yourself Thales, you are a massive underdog! You will have to do something pretty special to beat the spider!
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