Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva spoke out to Yahoo Sports’ Kevin Iole ahead of his headlining feature. ‘The Spider’ is set to take on Uriah Hall in what is expected to be the final fight of his UFC career. The 45-year-old MMA legend has chartered a legacy in the sport that is unlikely to be overshadowed anytime soon.

Silva still holds UFC records to this day, including one for the longest UFC winning streak that sits at 16. However, he has had some moments throughout his storied professional career that leaves a lot to be desired. His fight in Abu Dhabi against Demian Maia at UFC 112 is, unfortunately, one of those instances that aren’t looked back at fondly.

Anderson Silva speaks out on Dana White

The consensus MMA GOAT in Anderson shared some insight into the way fighters view UFC President Dana White. The long-time boss of the UFC is certainly an intimidating presence, and he truly went off on ‘The Spider’ following UFC 112.

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“A lot of fighters are scared about Dana, but Dana is a good guy. Sometimes he comes angry because they have two things. Inside the cage, Dana don’t have control, inside the cage it’s the fighters business inside. It’s my business, it’s not Dana’s business, but I think the fight with Demian is…that’s why I don’t like to talk too much. When you talk too much everything changes when you go inside. That’s the problem for this fight in Abu Dhabi.”

“Dana comes to talk to me and I say ‘Sorry, but I’m win the fight. I can’t do it everything you like to do because inside the cage, that’s my work. Your work is outside. You make the fights.”

‘The Spider’ believes that Dana White expects too much

Additionally, Anderson Silva revealed that White had pushed him to fight at light heavyweight as he had a higher finishing streak in the division. The former middleweight champion explained that Dana has the tendency of expecting too much from fighters on his roster.

“After that, Dana tried to put in a different class, but inside the cage that’s my world. It’s my world I know everything… Dana expects too much. Sometimes you knock out the guy, sometimes you take the knockout. Sometimes the fight comes perfect the same way you think in your mind, but it’s not about Dana. It’s not about how much Dana expects. It’s about how much you prepare for the fight.”

The aforementioned incident certainly sticks out in the minds of MMA fans considering the fall-out that was caused. White was “embarrassed” on behalf of Silva’s performance and there is no doubt that some friction was created from the incident.