A few months ago, Anderson Silva sat down for an interview with a Brazilian magazine called Trip. He touched on several topics, like the racism he suffered from in Brazil (a customer refused to be served by him when he worked at McDonald’s as a teenager).
Here’s just some of the juicy quotes.
On Racism in the US versus Brazil
Racism is bad anywhere on the planet. It exists the United States as well, even more than in Brazil. I never had a problem with racism in Los Angeles. I think things are changing, people are learning that everyone is equal before God, independent of their color, their race. I tend to say that conflict is inevitable in man, that color is just an excuse to unleash that madness, that lack of respect people have for one another. I’m very well set on this racism thing. We’re living in a moment in which racism does not fit in the world.
After his fight with Diaz, can Anderson just tour the world and fight random racists? I’d pay good money for that.
On Run-Ins with the Police in the Mostly-White City of Curitiba
There were several times. I was coming back from training with friends, I went for a stroll at the mall, and I was at the bus stop, in shorts and sandals, with a backpack on. A police car stopped. An MP (military police) came out and approached me, asking me where I was coming from. I said that I was coming from the mall. “What do you mean the mall,” he asked. He could’ve done it to any other boy there, but he only did with me. I was the only black one there. I thought, “I’ll respond to whatever he needs and it’s all good.” He was a bit rude, but I didn’t pay it much attention.
On Ballet
I have been a dancer. Not anymore.
Man, what a phase. At first I didn’t like it, no. It was punishment. No friend of mine did it. Me doing ballet? Hello? It wasn’t very cool. My friends would all go like, “ah, little girl, little lady.” And add that to my high-pitched voice—I was bullied a lot.
But I started to like ballet. And my aunt also put me in tap-dancing lessons. I’m thankful to her because it helped me a lot in fighting. Evander Holyfield practiced ballet. It’s got nothing to do with that, you know. If you want do ballet, you do ballet. You want to fence, you fence. You want to be gay, be gay, it’s all right. You respect people’s spaces, they respect yours, it’s all right.
I wonder if the full story is people mocked him for training ballet, he front kicked their faces off, and then it was all cool.
On Homosexuality in Mixed Martial Arts
I don’t think there’s prejudice, but there’s a lot of homosexuals in mixed martial arts. There are a lot of them who haven’t yet come out.
[If they were to come out,] nowadays it’s so silly to not express your feelings. As long as you respect people’s spaces, and respect their limits. You have to live your life in peace and no one has anything to do with that.
I would train with a gay man. As long as he respected me, it’s all right. I don’t think much of it. The fact that guy is gay doesn’t mean he’s going to accost you. He can be gay, have a relationship, live among guys who aren’t gay. he can do whatever he wants with his private life.
On Getting Picked On in the Gym
They tease me. Sometimes people think I’m gay. A lot of people have asked me if I’m gay. I answer, “Look, not to my knowledge. But I’m still young, it could be that in the future I’ll find out that I’m gay. I take good care of my things, I put everything in a bag, I use soap, I put on a cream after training. People think it’s capricious. To each his own. Doesn’t mean you’re more man or less man, more gay or less gay.
Who on earth equates putting things in bags with being gay? That’s one stereotype I’ve never heard before.
Whatever, I’m just glad we have a big name fighter that isn’t making terrible, homophobic remarks, and then claiming he was hacked. Thank you for being a good dude Anderson Silva.
PHOTO: USA TODAY SPORTS/ Jayne Kamin-Oncea
