Adegbuyi: “I think I won all three rounds”

Benjamin Adegbuyi's fight with Anderson Silva at GLORY 38 CHICAGO went three rounds and ended in a draw, prompting the judges to order an extra round to determine the overall winner of the fight.

The fight only went to a draw because Adegbuyi scored a knockdown late in the third round, resulting in the round automatically being a 10-8 to him and thereby levelling the scores between he and Silva. But Adegbuyi cannot understand how Silva was given the first two rounds by the judges anyway.

“I think I won all three rounds, I don't know what the judges were looking at there. He surprised me with some good actions but I still won the rounds. I was mentally prepared focused strong, energy good, the fight was mine,” he says.

“It was not my best fight but Anderson is a great fighter and fought everyone already. Maybe I underestimated him, I started to trade with him. I think I should have stuck to the gameplan more and stayed off and low-kicked him.

“I knew he could not take too many low kicks. He cannot take the back-leg inside low kick, so I tried to get into his mind, make him afraid and frustrated. When I gave him some low kicks he was making like a 'come on, come on' gesture to me, but you only start doing these things when you are hurt.”

Now that the fight is in the books and a win for Adegbuyi – he scored a knockdown in the extra round to make victory a certainty for himself – he retains the #1 contender spot but finds himself in the potentially awkward position of again being required to challenge champion Rico Verhoeven, who is now his training partner.

“Man, I don't know. I just take fights that GLORY wants, so whatever GLORY wants I will speak with my team and we will see what's next. I will take a week's holiday and then back in the gym to stay ready for the next fight,” he says.