Luiz Carlos Dorea, who has been Anderson Silva’s coach for a long time, stirs up trouble by strongly denying Silva’s claim that he was knocked out.

UFC legend Anderson Silva is clearing the air just in time for his highly-anticipated bout with YouTube sensation Jake Paul after recent comments in which he claimed to have been ‘knocked out’ twice by sparring partners in the last few weeks raised concerns.

“I’m training hard for win — I’m training with the good boxers, high-level, and five guys come to help me,” Silva said. “And the last sparring with [my sparring partner], he knocked me out two times, and when I finish my training, I talked to my coach and even said, ‘Coach, let me tell you something, why the guys knock me out two times?’ 

Silva’s longtime coach, Luiz Carlos Dorea, denied the ex-UFC champion had been knocked out in a statement to MMA Fighting, stating it “never happened.” The Arizona Gaming Department, which oversees the event, said it was looking into the matter. 

“What I can say is that didn’t happen,” he said. “Thank God we follow all the steps in training and Anderson did excellent sparring [sessions]. He’s 100 percent for the fight.”

And now the Spider has clarified the matter, claiming he has ‘never been knocked out,’ while the Brazilian claims he ‘misspoke’ due to the language barrier.

“After seeing the reports and concern for me, I’d like to clarify two important things,” Silva said in a statement.

“One, I was NEVER knocked out in sparring. I misspoke in that interview as I sometimes do when interviewing in English and exaggerated the normal back-and-forth action that occurs in sparring.”

“Second, this sparring session I referenced was in early September. The interview with MMA Weekly was done on Sept. 13 and, for some reason, just released this week. So, it wasn’t recent.”

Silva‘s confession isn’t the first time he’s mentioned knockouts before a fight. Prior to his fight with Nick Diaz at UFC 183, Silva claimed he was knocked out by a training partner, subsequently revealed to be UFC colleague Khalil Rountree.

Despite being 47 years old, many consider Silva to be the most challenging opponent in Paul’s short career, as he is a decorated UFC fighter with a boxing victory over former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr.

Meanwhile, ‘The Problem Child’ has victories against former MMA champions Tyron Woodley and Ben Askren on his record, but neither has a striking history.

Because of his age, Silva must go through extensive testing before being granted a boxing license. He must also reveal his most recent knockout, the longest period of unconsciousness, and if he’s been knocked out in any other manner.

It seems that the Brazilian just mixed up his words, which is easy for someone who speaks English as a second language.