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LOS ANGELES – Anderson Silva is deflecting to UFC President Dana White after Ronaldo Souza took aim at the former longtime middleweight champion for being inserted in a title-eliminator fight with Israel Adesanya at UFC 234 in February.

This past week, Souza (26-6 w. 1 NC MMA, 9-3 UFC) criticized both Silva (34-8 MMA, 17-4 UFC) and the UFC brass for booking the matchup against Adesanya (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC). Following his knockout of Chris Weidman at UFC 230 in November, “Jacare” said he felt he deserved the next title shot.

Instead, White revealed he’d offered Silva, who hasn’t fought in nearly two years and is coming off a U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension, the next crack at middleweight gold as part of his incentive to accept the fight with the unbeaten Adesanya. That, of course, didn’t sit well with Souza.

“The reality is Anderson is coming off doping, man,” Souza said during a recent Portal do Vale-Tudo hangout. “Anderson is outside of the rankings, you know? And then after some (expletive) like (Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229), in which the guy hops over the fence, hits the other one, screws up … I think I’m going to start doping, start doing a bunch of (expletive), call everyone names. Maybe I’ll fight for the belt. But here’s how I see it: my principles, my values, they’re non-negotiable. If I deserve it or not, whether they give me (the title shot) or not, I won’t change. I’m like this.”

Silva, who has a longstanding relationship with his fellow Brazilian including several years as training partners, today held a media event at Spider Kick training center in advance of UFC 234, which takes place Feb. 9 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Australia, was asked about Souza’s comments and offered a response.

“I admit I was a little surprised because I always gave all the support to ‘Jacare,’ including when he arrived at the gym,” Silva said. “I welcomed him and I always stood by him and I always defended him, every time that he fought so he could compete for the belt. I think he was unfortunate in those comments, but this – some things, you have no way of controlling. I can’t control certain things. I have control over my actions and over what I say. Everyone knows my history in this sport and how hard I’ve worked to keep doing what I do. So there’s not much to say about him.

“I thought it was a little premature on his end, especially because I’ve always helped him. I always gave him all the help that he needed in training and I even fought on his behalf within the UFC. He doesn’t know that. When he was close to fighting for the title, Ed (Soares) even gave me a hard time because I clashed with Dana, because I said I thought it wasn’t fair.”

This isn’t the first time Silva and Souza have been put an awkward position due to the 185-pound title picture. “The Spider” said prior to his win over Derek Brunson at UFC 208 in February that he would accept a crack at the belt, but he would never accept a matchup with Souza.

It never materialized for Silva, but even at the time, “Jacare” expressed his frustration at the possibility he might get skipped over.

“Of course I’d be upset,” Souza said. “I’m not a hypocrite. Who’s going to say ‘great’? No, it isn’t great at all. I’d be super upset. But God bless him. I always say God really likes Anderson because he’s a guy who does a lot of things and practically everything works out. Even when he does it wrong, it goes right. I want to be friends with a guy who God likes this much.”

Silva seems to have much less hostility toward Souza than what was coming back in his direction. However, he wanted to remind Souza that he’s the situation isn’t entirely of his doing. He was offered the fight against Adesanya with the condition of a title shot if he won. He agreed to those terms, which Silva said were proposed by the UFC and not himself.

“I’m very surprised that ‘Jacare’ is talking about that situation,” Silva said. “I try to help ‘Jacare’ anytime. I fight with Dana (White) and Ed Soares one time about a ‘Jacare’ fight when it comes close to fight for the belt. I don’t know why ‘Jacare’ is doing this, but it’s not my fault. I try to do the best in my job. That’s the point that Dana offered me to fight for the belt again, but it’s not my fault. I need to say sorry, ‘Jacare,’ but it’s not me, it’s Dana White. That’s the one (to blame).”

For more on UFC 234, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.