Former UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva has criticized his former coach, Diogenes “Kamikaze” Assahida, for assaulting a former student.
Last week, Assahida was filmed striking and choking his former student, Ulisses Teodoro, after Teodoro had switched academies and walked by Assahida’s gym wearing a shirt from the new academy. Assahida later released a video defending his actions, saying he was “like a father” to Teodoro and claiming that his former student had shown him a “lack of respect.”
Now, Silva has spoken up about the incident in a UFC media day in Rio de Janeiro:
”I think each person has its own views. I’m from a time where you respect your coach, the coach respected the student. I never had any problem with any of my coaches, I’ve always respected them. I have (Rogerio) Camoes, Master (Luiz) Dorea and Master (Ricardo) De La Riva as second fathers for me because they are always helping me, always showing me the path to go to get to where I want. That’s an isolated fact. It’s sad, because when you’re titled a master you have to be the example no matter if your student leaves the gym or not, if he continues or not. He has to follow his own path. The moment you open a gym and you pass your knowledge forward, you can’t stop this student from creating his own path. Unfortunately, each person has his own views and opinions about it. It’s an unfortunate fact.”
Here is the video of the incident:
