(It’s a bad day to be a focus mitt.  Photo courtesy of our friends at Fight! Magazine.)

I met Wanderlei Silva for an interview in his new gym in Las Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and to my surprise he showed up only a half-hour late.  He was sporting one hell of a black eye from a recent training session, but despite his busy schedule the always-gregarious Wanderlei was kind enough to give me a little of his time to talk about his upcoming bout with Rich Franklin at UFC 99 on Saturday, his thoughts on the rivalry and proposed bet with former friend Anderson Silva, as well as what he thinks about Dana White threatening to “pull the trigger” on him like he did to Chuck Liddell.  Enjoy.

CagePotato.com: Thanks for talking with me Wanderlei.  Looks like you have a pretty nice shiner there.

Yes, I was training with one of my partners here the other day and, you know, the fight is never like the training but I try to train like the fight.  The last two movements he hit me in each of my eyes.  It was the last few seconds even, and now I have this.  He got me and time was up before I could get him, but next week…(laughs)

What do you think of Rich Franklin as a fighter?

He’s a very professional guy.  Every guy who comes to fight me, they are going to train hard and train more.  This is real.  Because of this I know I need to train more too.   I train every day, two or three times a day.  So I will be ready too.

And what do you think of him training with Anderson Silva before his fight with you?