(Video courtesy of YouTube/knuklo)

Anderson Silva has been chomping at the bit for a rematch with Yushin Okami since losing to the durable Japanese fighter by disqualification due to an illegal upkick in 2006. Now that the UFC middleweight champion has a date for his second meeting with “Thunder” at UFC Rio in August, he has revealed that he thinks Okami faked injury to get out of their Rumble on the Rock 8 bout.

“I was a little surprised with his reaction to that,” Silva told the LA Times this week. “Do I think he could have continued? I do think he could have continued. But he had the rules in his favor. I did an illegal kick and he chose that it was better not to continue.”

Judging by the video above, Okami seemed to be doing just fine in the fight. Personally, I don’t see him quitting to get out of the bout, especially since there seemed to be some confusion all around as to whether or not the move that left Yushin sprawled out on the canvas was indeed against the rules.

Check out this gif that shows just how hard Silva’s heel connects with Okami’s neck:

Illegal kick or not, Okami got rocked.

This is going to be an interesting match-up. Besides his fight with Silva, Okami has only been finished once in 31 fights and has never been submitted. According to Chael Sonnen, who has been training extensively with Okami since their bout nearly two years ago, he is the strongest fighter he’s ever faced. Sonnen revealed during an interview we did with him in 2009 that he can no longer take Okami down, which is a huge accomplishment considering Chael’s wrestling credentials.

If Yushin can avoid the pinpoint accurate striking of  ”The Spider” the fight between Silva and Okami could well look like a carbon copy of Chael’s fight with Anderson at UFC 117, right up until the submission ending.