Light heavyweight Josh Silveira (13-2) believes the location of his fight with Rob Wilkinson, in Salt Lake City, Utah, could have a heavy bearing on the fight.
“I feel good. I got here June 4 to get acclimated with the weather. I know Rob trains out of Colorado, so I had to get myself that same type of elevation workout,” Silveira, a former LFA champ, said during this week’s PFL 5 media day. “We’re high up in the mountains; I’m from Florida, they’re like 100 feet above sea level. I’m not used to 5,000 feet.”
Coming out early is all part of being responsible, Silveira added. “We’re at the top level here, so I want to be responsible. I made my investment, I even brought a teammate out with me, Lucas Cortez, to help me out. And obviously we have two other guys in the tournament. We just kind of had a little mini-American Top Team here in Utah.”
“At the end of the day it’s science. Science is science,” Silveira later added. “I wasn’t going to find out on fight night. It’s a big deal, I’ve had teammates out here too.”
Silveira’s last fight, against Sadibou Sy, had a strange ending when Sy was left unable to continue with an injury. Silveira admits that after the win, he felt like a “horrible dude,” but “at some point I’ve just got to let it be, and appreciate what happened. I didn’t go anything illegal.”
Sy’s thumb dislocated in the fight, rendering him unable to continue. “For me, with the format, beautiful. Six points, no damage, I’m kind of back where I was last year with the six points. So I’ll take it,” said Silveira. “But the MMA spirit warrior was like ‘man, I wanted to show you guys my improvements.'”
“It’s a weird world. It’s a weird world out here, and I’ll take it,” Silveira finished.
Watch the full PFL 5 media day appearance by Josh Silveira above.
