Wins over former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski and onetime Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight king Fedor Emelianenko cemented Antonio Silva as one of the world’s Top 10 heavyweights. Then came his knockout defeat to Daniel Cormier. As Silva primes for his move to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, the Team Nogueira representative discussed in an exclusive interview with Sherdog.com his departure from Imperial Athletics and its relation to Alistair Overeem’s arrival at the fledgling Florida dojo:
“I hope it’s good for him and for the team because I have several friends who are part of [the] ‘Blackzilians,’ and I always wish to see them do well. In terms of what he has to gain there, I can say that his jiu-jitsu and wrestling will greatly improve. Flavius [Silva] is a quality jiu-jitsu coach, just as Mike Van Arsdale is with wrestling. The truth is he’ll be fighting a big friend of mine [in Junior dos Santos], and, in going to the UFC, I’d be on a collision course with Overeem. Once I knew he had signed with the ‘Blackzilians,’ I had already arranged another place to do my training, and it was at Team Nogueira.”