To check out audio interviews with Anderson Silva and Brandon Vera, click here. 

When UFC president Dana White was looking to bury Affliction and its pay-per-view debut, he called on one of the biggest guns on the UFC's roster.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva never had any desire to fight at 205 pounds, but he decided to step up and accept the challenge to fight James Irvin at UFC Fight Night 14 on Spike TV on July 19 at The Palms in Las Vegas.

The UFC card is being held the same night as Affliction's pay-per-view debut at Honda Center.

Silva said he accepted the fight at a higher weight class and on short notice because of White's personal request.

Silva said he still intends to pursue a boxing match against Roy Jones Jr. after he has fulfilled his contract with the UFC.

I got a chance to talk to Silva, who is considered the best MMA fighter pound-for-pound in the world by many experts, and here is what "The Spider" had to say:

On fighting James Irvin:

"I'm looking forward to going in there and fighting James Irvin and it's going to be a challenge for me, but I'm looking forward to having a good fight."

On if this is the first time he has fought at 205 pounds:

"I did it before in PRIDE where the weight classes were a little different."

On how he felt fighting at a higher weight class:

"When I used to fight at that weight class in PRIDE, I fought at a lower weight and was fighting heavier guys. So there really is no way to compare them. I have a lot more skills today and I'm looking forward to this fight."

On what weight he intends to fight Irvin at:

"I walk around at 100 or 105 kilos (205 pounds), so I don't put on that much weight. This fight is, basically, going to be an experiment to see if we can take on this challenge. It's more weight and to see if we can keep the skills that we have now."

On his punching power and speed at 205 pounds:

"I'm used to training with the Nogueira brothers and a lot of guys that are much heavier than I am, so I'm right at home with that. It's an experiment to see how the training and how my body is."

On if his plan is to hold the middleweight and light-heavyweight belts at the same time:

"My goal  is to keep my middleweight title and it has been proven that the light-heavyweight title belongs to Lyoto (Machida).

"We're not only friends, but we are teammates and Lyoto has done everything he can to prove that he deserves that title."

On whose idea it was to fight at 205 pounds:

"This was brought up by Dana White. I was in Hawaii with one of my teammates, Rafael Feijao, who was fighting in EliteXC. I got a phone call from my manager saying that Dana wanted me to do this fight on July 19. We were a little worried at first because we had to cut the training in half, but we were up for the challenge."

On whether he had entertained the possibility of fighting at 205 before White made the request:

"No, I wasn't planning on fighting at 205, but it came as a challenge and we are ready to test our skills."

On his plans to fight at 205 pounds in the future:

"I don't know what is going to happen. We are going to have to see how this fight goes and if all goes as planned then anything can happen."

On the UFC going up against Affliction's PPV card on the same night:

"I don't feel it's competition. It's just the globalization of MMA and the UFC is still the biggest one. It's just drawing more attention to MMA. It's up to them to put on a good show and it's up to the UFC to live up to it's name.

"It's not necessarily Dana trying to put Affliction down. He is just doing his job as a businessman and a promoter. That's what he has got to do to protect his company. The result is going to be what comes out of July 19. Affliction has got a great card, but I hope that UFC Fight Night 14 comes out great."

On the dangers of fighting Irvin, who has nothing to lose:

"I'm going to go in there and do my job like I always do. I'm not taking a responsibility for this or going in there thinking that I have to beat James Irvin, but I'm doing a favor for Dana White and I'm going to step in there and do my job."

On the possibility of fighting Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match:

"It's not over. I'm under contract with the UFC and I have to take on my responsibilities with the UFC. But after my contract is over I think I am going to take on that fight."

On how he sees a fight against Jones going:

"He's not at the greatest moment in his career, but he is still a great boxer and I feel it would be a great challenge. I would have to train very hard because that's what Roy Jones does. He has done boxing and only boxing for a very long time, while I focus on other things too. I would really have to focus on boxing and maybe in the near future we are going to see the outcome of that fight."

On how far along the talks have come with Jones and his people:

"Roy Jones is very interested. His manager is very interested. People are e-mailing back and forth and talking. We are just going to wait until the (UFC) contract is over and see what happens."

On if he would go back to MMA after boxing match against Jones:

"I don't know. We'll see what happens. It's my personal dream to fight Roy Jones Jr. I want to honor my contract with the UFC, and if I can do this fight, great. We'll see what happens."

On future middleweight title defenses against Yushin Okami and Patrick Cote:

"Okami, for me, is just like a fighter like any other. He's looking for his place in the sun. Okami wants what I got and I got to keep what I got."

On if the DQ loss to Okami still bothers him:

"I'm over that DQ. I don't think about it that much. Right now, I'd rather think about James Irvin, and after I fight James Irvin, whatever the outcome of that fight may be, then I'm going to start thinking about Okami."

On how White felt about his desire to fight Jones:

"Dana didn't think it was a good idea.

"Dana has his own reasons."

On how many fights he has left on his UFC contract:

"I think it is about seven fights."

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