Thiago Silva Discusses Actions in his UFC 125 Bout with Brandon Vera

Thiago Silva spoke with Fighters Only about what went down in the cage against Brandon Vera at UFC 125:

"Brandon was saying in interviews that he was going to beat me, that he’d do this or that. All I said was tell him to try and beat me… I threw some slaps just to get him to lose focus so I could get the submission"

I'm not entirely sure that I buy the "I just told him to try and beat me" line, because Thiago has a history of mean mugging, and getting a little more amped up than most fighters when he fights.  As you'll recall, at the end of the first round of this fight, Thiago provoked his opponent, Brandon Vera, and they had to be separated before going to their corners.  Then, in the third round, he started smacking and chopping at Vera, as well as played the drums on his back.  Right after that, the most significant damage of the fight was dealt out by Silva, where he smashed Vera's nose with some nasty punches while he had his back.  

I had expected more from this fight than we actually got, but it had it's moments.  Check out my favorite moment after the jump.

Photo via Dave Mandel, for Sherdog