"He's going to be moving over here [United States] shortly; it's just a matter of time. I would say in the next 6 months...They all want to live out here," stated Ed Soares, manager of UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, undefeated light heavyweight Lyoto Machida and interim heavyweight champion Antonio Noguiera, as he talked about the future plans of all three fighters. Check out what else he had to say as he shares his thoughts on Machida's upcoming fight with Tito Ortiz as well as the possibility of Nogueira fighting Frank Mir. Plus, you don't want to miss what he had to say about Anderson Silva he talks more in-depth about the possibility of a fight with boxing legend Roy Jones Jr.
PC: How are you doing Ed?
ES: Dude, I'm doing great man. How are you doing?
PC: I'm doing pretty good, thanks for asking. I know you're a very busy man so I really appreciate you doing this interview with me.
ES: No problem man.
PC: How is Lyoto Machida looking in preparation for Tito Ortiz?
ES: He's looking great man. He's up there training at AKA right now and they have some terrific wrestlers. He's doing great. He's training, he's healthy and he's looking forward to fighting Tito. Even Tito said himself, "To be a legend, you have to beat a legend." We definitely think that Tito is a legend in the sport for what he's done. We're looking forward to the opportunity to beat a legend and become a legend and Lyoto is definitely on that track.
PC: Tito also made comments about wanting a bigger and better fight in his last contracted UFC fight. What are your thoughts on those comments?
ES: Lyoto is not a huge name or a big name, but on the other hand, they see how good Lyoto is and they see by beating a guy with a name like Tito, that's going to make his popularity go up. I can tell you right now, Tito saying someone with a bigger name, maybe that's his way of saying an easier opponent. I definitely don't think...if you're a fighter, you want to fight the best and it doesn't make a difference how big their name is or whatever. Lyoto is undefeated and he just beat Sokoudjou so it's really hard to say what he meant by that. Sometimes, Tito might have some ulterior motives in what he says, but I think Tito is trying his best to get the fight that's best for him to finish up his contract. Tito needs to finish up his contract with a win.
PC: Do you feel like Machida gets the respect from the fans that he should garner?
ES: I just think that they haven't been exposed to what he is yet. I don't think it's the lack of not getting respect, but they just don't know about him yet and that's why they're in the process of...building him up. That's part of the reason he's fighting Tito. He's a high-profile fighter that will be fighting Lyoto. He just beat Sokoudjou, which was a pretty high-profile fight for people that know MMA, but hardly anybody knew who Sokoudjou was anyway so I think this is Lyoto's bigger profile fights and those who don't know much about Lyoto, after May 24th, they'll know about him.
PC: He has one of the toughest styles to figure out in the light heavyweight division. Do you think his overall skill will be too much for Tito's wrestling and ground-and-pound style to overcome?
ES: I don't really think there's an area where Tito Ortiz is better than Lyoto. I look at it on paper and Lyoto can out strike him, Lyoto is better than him on the ground. I mean, Tito is bigger, but I don't necessarily think he's stronger, but he's bigger. That's the only thing he really has and I can even say he's a better wrestler, but we'll have to wait and see. I know Tito will come prepared and I know Lyoto will be prepared so it has all of the ingredients of being a great fight.
PC: If Lyoto is successful in May against Tito, do you think he should get the winner between Rampage and Forrest?
ES: Yeah! I think he does, but at the end of the day, the UFC is a business. Our goal is for Lyoto to keep winning and be fighting for a title by the end of the year. We would love to fight the winner of Quinton and Forrest, but first, right now man, we gotta get through Tito and everything else will just happen naturally. Our focus right now is on May 24th and beating Tito Ortiz. The other stuff, let the chips lie where they lie. We're not concerned. We would like to fight for the belt and we feel that he is ready, but when the UFC says he's ready, we'll be there.
PC: Ed, you're associated with 2 of the best fighters on the planet.
ES: Don't forget about Nogueira.
PC: I almost forgot you represented Nogueira as well. Well, make that 3 of the best fighters in the world. You see these guys train day in and day out. What do you give credit to the consistency of these guys?
ES: What can I say? These guys just come prepared. Any given day and any given time, anyone could lose and that's the crazy thing about this sport, but fortunately for us, all of these guys have paid their dues and their records and their performances speak for themselves. It's really not much to say. You look at Nogueira's last fight and he was getting beat up for a couple of rounds, but he came back and it was not just technique, but heart. When you're in a room training amongst those guys, when it comes to the fight, the fight is kind of all of the hard work is done at that point. You just let it all go and hope that God is on your side and everything turns out good.
PC: Anderson is gaining fans by the minute for his style and also, he's not a big trash talker and he shows all of his opponents respect. Would you like to get him over here in the states and let the US fans get more accustomed to him?
ES: Yes, I think he is going to be moving over here. He's going to be moving over here shortly; it's just a matter of time. I would say in the next 6 months, he should be living over here. The same with Nogueira and Lyoto. They all want to live out here.
PC: One of Anderson's major strong points, in my opinion, is his ability to remain calm even when he's under fire, like in the 1st round of the Henderson fight. Have you ever seen him rattled?
ES: Me personally, I've never really seen him rattled even when he's gotten beat and submitted. Things happen. I think Anderson is just a different kind of guy; a different fighter. All of these guys are great, but Anderson, at this point in his life, dude is kind of like Michael Jordan when he was with the Bulls dude. All of the cylinders are working and coming together. His experience, maturity and confidence are all there right now.
PC: I recently did a radio show and was asked some questions about Anderson and Roy Jones Jr. boxing. I personally think Anderson could give Roy problems because history proves that Roy has a problem with big southpaws that can punch. Aside from Tarver, Lou Del Valle, another southpaw, dropped Roy years ago with a punch he didn't see. Do you think the fans that give Silva no chance are just uneducated of the game?
ES: I think he would give him a fight. I think they are just uneducated and I think if this fight were to happen, he'll be able to prove to everybody what he's capable of doing.
PC: Is it just Roy Jones or are you guys interested in testing his skills against other boxers as well?
ES: For me, right now with Anderson being the champion that he is, the only fight, if he was ever to do something like that, would be...first and foremost, he's a mixed martial artist and he works for the UFC right now and that's where we're at. If this fight was to ever go up, it just doesn't make sense for us to fight anybody else but a Roy Jones simply because Roy Jones is somebody that Anderson and all of us admire as a boxer and he's one of the best boxers of all time so for us, we want to test his skills against the best. It doesn't make sense for us to fight a boxer with no name because if he beats them, then people would say, "Of course he beat him, he's the UFC champion." It only makes sense for him to fight somebody that's at the caliber of Roy Jones. I think Roy Jones would be the perfect opponent if that fight were to ever happen.
PC: Are you guys negotiating with anybody to make that fight happen?
ES: We're not negotiating with anybody. We leave that up to the UFC. Roy Jones' management has contacted us, but contractually, we can't negotiate. Like I said, we're with the UFC and first and foremost, he's an MMA fighter. It's a dream of his to fight in boxing and if he gets that opportunity, he would love to fight Roy Jones, but as of right now, he's an MMA fighter with a contract with the UFC.
PC: If you search through different message boards, a lot of fans are basing Anderson's boxing skills on his sparring session with Nogueira that's all over the web, but it appears to me that he has fun when he's training and he was doing so in that sparring session.
ES: That's exactly the case. I'm not saying Anderson is ready to go fight Roy Jones today. He would need 6 to 8 months to prepare for a boxing match, but I think he's such a phenomenal athlete that I think in 6 months, he could be at that caliber and that he would give Roy Jones a hell of a fight and I wouldn't be surprised if he knocked out Roy Jones. The one thing that I could guarantee you is it will be one hell of a fight. I can't guarantee you Anderson will knock him out or even if he would win, but I can tell you if Roy Jones would fight Anderson, it would be a historical boxing fight.
PC: Anderson has run through the middleweight division. Is Okami someone Anderson would like to get revenge on or does he consider that a step back and how likely could we see him move up to light heavyweight?
ES: Anything is possible, but we're focused right now on the 185 pound division. We want to put the fights on that the fans want to see and eventually, when there's no one else to fight and we can't make anymore fights that the fans want to see, then we'll consider it, you know? We're team players so we're there for the UFC and we're there for our fans so if there's a particular fight that the fans want to see, is going to make the PPV's sell and is going to create the hype that we want, then we're willing to talk about anything. Okami is no step back. He's definitely a fighter who has established himself. If that's who the UFC thinks should be next in line, then that's who we will take. We've never, ever picked our opponents. We've never had the UFC offer us an opponent and say, "No, we don't want to fight him right now." Whoever the UFC puts in front of us, not only for Anderson, but all of our fighters, we never pick our opponents.
PC: What would you like to see them do with Nogueira next and when would you like to see him back in the Octagon?
ES: Who knows what's next for Nogueira, but I'd like to see him fight by summertime and one guy who he would love to fight would be like...right now, it's kind of an interesting situation so maybe a Frank Mir.
PC: I appreciate your time Ed. Like I said, I know how busy you are.
ES: Alright Percy. I'll talk to you later.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]