He didn’t earn his nickname “The Axe Murderer” for no reason, Wanderlei Silva is definately a crowd pleaser due to his aggressive style. His long list of victories is a who’s who of Mixed Martial Arts.

We caught up with him to find out his thoughts about his next opponent Michael Bisping.

Elie: Welcome to Australia?
Wand: Thank you.

Elie: How do you like it so far?
Wand: Yes I the tourist tour in the ferry and its great watching the nice place here and now I’m going to look the (harbour) bridge, the top of the bridge now. It’s amazing, my first here, it’s great, now I’m going to have new friends here.

Elie: When you got the call to fight Michael Bisping in Australia what were your thoughts?
Wand: It’s great, because imagine the event was sold in one day. It’s unbelievable. The fans like the fighting here. It’s a great responsibility for us and we’re going to give a great show to the fans.

Elie: You we’re suppose to fight Akiyama first, when they said you we’re going to fight Bisping, what do you think?
Wand: No problem. I said, it changed just the name, you know (laughs). It’s great for me because (Michael) Bisping is more known, his more famous in America. Maybe I’ll beat him well, I’m going to have the opportunity to fight the best in the world in the future.

Elie: You’re fighting at middleweight for this fight, what do you think about that?
Wand: I’m going to start to lose my weight. I have a good diet. I’m not going to eat that much in the holidays (laughs).

Elie: What weight do you walk around at?
Wand: 210 -215 (lbs).

Elie: Is it going to be easy to cut weight?
Wand: Not too much, but I lose the last 10 lbs in Sauna, that’s 5kg.

Elie: Prediction on the fight?
Wand: I’m going to beat him, I don’t know where if in the stand up or ground, but I’m going to beat him. I need this victory for me and my fans.

Elie: How do you think you will do against Anderson Silva?
Wand: No, I really do not want to fight him because I’ll come back to talk to him because he’s my friend. Business is business, but I don’t really want to fight with him now.

Elie: What about Vitor Belfort?
Wand: I think he’s (Anderson Silva) going to beat Vitor easy.

Elie: Would you fight Vitor Belfort?
Wand: Vitor Belfort yes. I’ll fight with him yesterday, no problem (laughs).

Elie: That’s a rematch if you fight Vitor Belfort, how do you think that it will go this time?
Wand: Yes that’s a rematch. This time when I fight it is going to be the other way because I’m going to beat him this time.

Elie: Any last comments?
Wand: I want to say thanks to all my fans here in Australia, it’s a great reception. It’s a great surprise for me, I’m going to some places here. I went to the Rocks yesterday and a lot of guys recognise me there, and at the ferry’s a lot of guys come and talk to me. It is unbelievable. It’s great for me, our first time here, I have a lot of fans and I want to give a great show for my fans and I’m going to train hard. Everyone who goes to Vegas come visit me at my gym, my gym is open for the fans.

Elie: Thank you very much.
Wand: I appreciate it.