Pezão says he will return this year and says: 'I would like to fight Josh Barnett'

A. Silva (photo) stated that he will return to the octagon in 2013. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

Former opponent of heavyweight Josh Barnett, who made his UFC debut with a victory over Frank mir last Saturday (31), the Brazilian Antonio Pezão is eager for a chance to fight his rival. This Monday (02), during open training sessions at UFC Fight Night 28, in Belo Horizonte (MG), Pezão highlighted his desire to face the former heavyweight champion.

“I always want to face the best. I don't choose to fight, I'm an employee. But it's logical that if I could choose, I would like to fight Josh Barnett. But it’s not in my hands, it’s in the hands of Joe Silva, Dana White and the UFC”, said the fighter, in an exclusive interview with the website SUPER FIGHTS.

Pezão also revealed that he should return to fight in 2013. “I should return by the end of the year, by December I should have a fight. I don't know yet which card it will be on, but my manager is already negotiating. It would be great for me to have a fight on the same card as the Anderson Silva e Chris Weidman (UFC 168), but I don't know yet. The reality is that by the end of the year the Antonio Pezão will be back”, he concluded.

In his last appearance in the octagon, on May 25th, Antônio “Pezão” Silva was knocked out by Cain Velazquez, in a fight valid for the heavyweight belt, at UFC 160. The Brazilian has a record of 18 wins and five losses as a professional. Still playing for Strikeforce, Pezão won one of his most emblematic victories in February 2011, beating the Russian Fedor Emelianenko, in a fight valid for the quarter-finals of the extinct organization's heavyweight GP.