The MMA General News & Events Thread

[Magnum Milano]

Silva refusing to fight Sonnen puts another nail in his increasingly shaky legacy.

What absolute garbage. Although seeing who the poster is, should I be suprised?

[jimufctna24]

Anderson Silva wants no part of Chael Sonnen

Anderson Silva puts Sonnen away within two rounds if they fight again. Easily.

I disagree

 

It is 50/50. Sonnen is a beast of a wrestler, and has the nads not to be scared in the stand up, which helps set up those takedowns that could lead to victory.

[John Galt]

Is there a source for any of this Silva/Sonnen 'will only fight in Brazil' talk or is it just internetz speculation?

 

Silva refusing to fight Sonnen puts another nail in his increasingly shaky legacy.

 

Shaky how? Silva's fought everyone they've put in front of him. Unless you're privy to every fighters negotiations so you can compare hearing a titbit of (dubiously reliable) info online & turning into a massive deal hardly tarnishes his champion status. When he was at the top of his game Griffin apparently said he'd fight nowhere apart from Vegas. I imagine shit like this happens all the time, just because 'fighter A' makes a request/demand doesn't mean Zuffa are going to entertain it.

 

At this point, it's less of him being good and more of everyone else being dumb. He's a great striker and yet everyone tries to out strike him, and they do it in the stupidest ways too like with Belfort and Griffin who just came at him head on or Maia who is willing to just stand there and get styled on. It's fighters buying into the hype. Meanwhile, here's Sonnen who grapples the fuck out of him, pins him down for 20 minutes and exposes a big hole in his game. It's obvious why Silva wants nothing to do with him but in ducking him so obviously, it does nothing but make him look like late era Fedor.

[Dead Mike]

You've obviously missed your calling, you're a veritable 'Greg Jackson' being able to point out how stupid the top level fighters all are. It's a wonder how they managed to get their title shots at all, without your pearls of wisdom.

 

It's been well documented & mentioned time & time again that Silva was injured going into the fight, not to mention Sonnen's cheating. The fact he still got beat is testament to Andersons skill. There were people on here, far more informed that yourself who were picking Okami to beat Silva as Sonnen 'had laid out the gameplan', 'exposed Silva's weakness' & he couldn't get close to a healthy Anderson. Silva will get beat eventually (unless he retires) but I don't think anyone would doubt he's a level above the competition. Comparing him to Fedor, who's latter opponents didn't quite hold up to scrutiny is laughable. TBH I'm not sure if you're trolling or not? If you are congrats

[John Galt]

Okami falls into the same trap as Maia who went into the fight believing the Silva hype and give him time to work. I'm not saying Silva is bad, I'm saying he's just not as good as everyone claims.

[Snake Plissken]

I've just come back from interviewing Randy Couture at Gatwick (Hilton hotel) and I can say thus far he is absolutely the nicest person I have met in MMA and that includes former number 1 nice guy Mike Goldberg. For those of you interested it will be part of the next Sweep The Leg Podcast, he's on there to talk about his latest book 'The Last Round' and we also get into Expendables II, Bispings strategy for beating Silva, Ryan Couture & Strikeforce's future among other items. Absolute legend.

[METAL ON METAL]

As far as I know the champions don't have a clause in their contract saying fighters have to fight whoever the UFC say they do or else they will be sued for millions of dollars.

 

They kinda do. Its just the same as the whole Carlos Tevez saga in football the other month, he refused to play when told and that was something Manchester City could've fired/sued him for. It'd be exactly the same if Silva refused to fight who UFC deem to be the no.1 contender to his title, except with it being over in America the punishment could/would be far worse for Silva - he is contracted to fight for the UFC and if he refuses to fight someone without a reason the UFC find acceptable therefore he is in breach of contract.

 

Its like you ringing your work up and saying "You know what, I don't really fancy doing any work today".

[Trevor]

Well no, if you work in an office or a supermarket for example, it's not the same as Anderson Silva refusing to fight for the UFC. As others have mentioned, if Silva refused to fight and the UFC fired him, they'd be letting go of one of their biggest, most talented, money makers. The only way your comparison works is if the person who doesn't fancy work makes an absoloute shed load of cash for said company and can't be fired due to their value.

[METAL ON METAL]

Well no, if you work in an office or a supermarket for example, it's not the same as Anderson Silva refusing to fight for the UFC. As others have mentioned, if Silva refused to fight and the UFC fired him, they'd be letting go of one of their biggest, most talented, money makers. The only way your comparison works is if the person who doesn't fancy work makes an absoloute shed load of cash for said company and can't be fired due to their value.

 

I didn't say they would fire him, but that they would be well in their rights to heavily punish/suspend him.

[Dead Mike]

I imagine any champion has some influence in who they'd like to fight but I can't think of any instances when anyone's flat out refused, or at least an occasions when it's been publicised? The UFC could easily punish any champion, we know that their salaries are heavily bonused which is easily removed without breaking any contract stipulation (get used to earning your basic rate) plus reduced TV/PPV time will have a direct impact on sponsorship endorsements. Plus, it's easy for the organisation to leak info to the press if they really want to hurt that person. I guess it all depends on the reasoning behind said persons reluctance to fight? I doubt any two cases would be the same.

[Swift89]

I imagine any champion has some influence in who they'd like to fight but I can't think of any instances when anyone's flat out refused, or at least an occasions when it's been publicised? The UFC could easily punish any champion, we know that their salaries are heavily bonused which is easily removed without breaking any contract stipulation (get used to earning your basic rate) plus reduced TV/PPV time will have a direct impact on sponsorship endorsements. Plus, it's easy for the organisation to leak info to the press if they really want to hurt that person. I guess it all depends on the reasoning behind said persons reluctance to fight? I doubt any two cases would be the same.

 

Agree, also the top PPV draw have much more influence than others. For example a GSP would have way more influence over the likes of Frankie Edgar.

 

Silva is quite a unique case where he is coming towards the end of his career and probably won't fight anymore than around 5 times. He is sorted for life financially and therefore it doesn't effect him too much if he got fired or his pay was cut as he would just retire from the sport. If Silva refused to fight Sonnen the UFC can't do much about it as nothing they can do to would really punish him. In the case he did refuse they would just find other opponents for him and make as much money from him as they can. They also wouldn't come out and say he refused to fight someone as this would effect his popularity and hence the amount he drew for future PPV's which he headlined.

[wandshogun09]

I've just come back from interviewing Randy Couture at Gatwick (Hilton hotel) and I can say thus far he is absolutely the nicest person I have met in MMA and that includes former number 1 nice guy Mike Goldberg. For those of you interested it will be part of the next Sweep The Leg Podcast, he's on there to talk about his latest book 'The Last Round' and we also get into Expendables II, Bispings strategy for beating Silva, Ryan Couture & Strikeforce's future among other items. Absolute legend.

 

That's good to hear, Randy's a class act by all accounts. Only negative thing I ever heard about him was that he cheated on his wife but with a name like Randy he's doomed One of the nicest guys in MMA, Id like to see him have more of a role on camera, commentating again or a spokesman.

 

Side note, but I'd also like to see these guys who retire like Randy, Chuck etc do some judging too. Gotta be better than Peoples.

[wandshogun09]

I don't get why everyone thinks Anderson will walk through Sonnen next time, Fair enough there was the testosterone controversy last time and Silva's rib but Chael's not gonna be forgetting how to shoot a takedown because he's clean. And Silva's rib being better won't mean he can suddenly stuff Sonnen's takedowns.

 

Just like last time, this will probably come down to whether Anderson can submit him off his back, which we've seen he can but we'll see if Sonnen's smarter this time. Silva's BJJ skills + Sonnen's own over aggression beat him last time.

 

Sonnen's style is never gonna be an easy fight for Anderson. He's a big 185er with great wrestling, good cardio, a good chin and unorthodox striking that is just good enough to get him close enough to clinch or shoot. BJJ defence is his only major weakness.

 

Still a tough fight to call in my book.

[The Natural]

 

Oh Dana...

[Dead Mike]

I don't get why everyone thinks Anderson will walk through Sonnen next time, Fair enough there was the testosterone controversy last time and Silva's rib but Chael's not gonna be forgetting how to shoot a takedown because he's clean. And Silva's rib being better won't mean he can suddenly stuff Sonnen's takedowns.

 

Just like last time, this will probably come down to whether Anderson can submit him off his back, which we've seen he can but we'll see if Sonnen's smarter this time. Silva's BJJ skills + Sonnen's own over aggression beat him last time.

 

Sonnen's style is never gonna be an easy fight for Anderson. He's a big 185er with great wrestling, good cardio, a good chin and unorthodox striking that is just good enough to get him close enough to clinch or shoot. BJJ defence is his only major weakness.

 

Still a tough fight to call in my book.

 

True but Silva having a busted rib would've absolutely affected his speed & hampered him on the ground. Plus, Sonnen being on 'performance enhancing substances' were just that, to enhance his performance. The first fight & how it played definitely gives Silva the psychological edge going into the 2nd, he's taken Sonnen's best at his worst & still came out on top. He knows what it's like to have Chael on top of him for 25 minutes & he knows what he'll try & do this time round. The same exact thing. Anderson's a much more rounded fighter than Sonnen & now he's been there once I'm pretty sure he wont make the same mistakes again.

The fact remains that Sonnen's only ever managed to finish 1 of his UFC fights, his G&P is weak. His only chance of winning is to hold Silva down for 5 rounds without being subbed. He couldn't do that last time with the PED's & Silva hurt, there's nothing to suggest he'll be able to do it on level terms.