What if Anderson Silva dances his way to a decision win at UFC 117?
by Matt Bishop on Aug 6, 2010 8:48 PM EDT
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One of the more intriguing storylines heading into Saturday's UFC 117 event is the performance of Anderson Silva.
Technically speaking, it's a given he will hold a vast skill edge on challenger Chael Sonnen, especially on the feet. At this point, especially considering his performances in his last three championship defenses against Patrick Cote, Thales Leites and Demian Maia, combined with Sonnen's mouth leading into this fight, I fully expect Silva to have another erratic performance in this one, all the while dominating the outgunned Sonnen.
So that leads to the question: What will Dana White do if Silva has a repeat performance of the Maia fight.
Here's what White had to say following Silva's fight against Maia to MMAFighting.com:
"I don't know why he acted the way he did. What's even more baffling is that he feels that he doesn't owe the fans an apology. Yet I'm apologizing. I didn't go in and fight like a jackass for five rounds. I didn't do what he did tonight. I'm embarrassed and I feel like I should apologize to the fans and I feel like I owe the fans one."
Moreover, White told ESPN's Jim Rome the following week he'd cut Silva if he dances around this time out:
"Personally I think he was embarrassed by what he did that night," White said. "Maybe he had a mental breakdown -- I don't know what happened in the ring. All I can say is I know his next opponent isn't going to be a guy who's going to lay back. Chael Sonnen is going to take it to him, and hopefully we never see that again. If we do, I'll tell you this: If he ever acts like that again in the ring, I will cut him. I don't care if he's the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, I don't care if he is the middleweight champion. I will cut him, absolutely."
Now, here we are nearly four months later. I'm not convinced it won't happen again. And I'm also not convinced White's going to cut Silva if he does it again. I have to say, I'm not as excited for the fight itself as I am for how Silva is going to act during the fight. This has the chance to be quite the cat-and-mouse game between Silva and White. It'll be like Sonnen is doing the "trolling" outside the cage and Silva will be the one doing it inside the cage. Almost appropriate.
Silva showboats in almost every fight because he holds such a superior skill advantage against his opponents. I'd expect to see plenty more of that against Sonnen. Unless Silva is a changed man, and I find that difficult to believe, he'll probably "fight like a jackass for five rounds" again Saturday. With everything Sonnen has said, especially some of the more personal stuff, I find it hard to believe Silva won't want to maximize the 25 minute time limit to punish and embarrass Sonnen to a level we have not yet seen.
And if he does that, let the games begin.
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To answer the question, he’ll get cut period. One thing anyone should know about Dana is that he’ll never allow any 1 fighter to be bigger than the brand. If he were to pull another UFC 112 performance it would be the last time you’d see Silva in the UFC because he’d committ career suicide.
Luckily for all of us, Sonnen is going to make Silva fight because unlike your assumptions. HIs style is going to make it a long and painfull night for Silva, who’s hype and myth have reached Fedor levels of delusion. And just like Fedor’s myth was exposed against Werdum, Sonnen is going to end Anderson’s streak and take his belt home.
"they mad at me, I keep going hard reppin/
cause what's your Rampage to Rashad Evans/"
-Joe Budden (Something To Ride To)
http://www.zshare.net/audio/76866807deabe3c1/
I can’t say I agree. Anderson is not even close to being “bigger than the brand” and he never will be simply because he isn’t a draw and is very polarizing with the fans. Also, White will not cut Anderson under any circumstances. If he did it would completely destroy the validity of his champions’ credibility and set a very bad president for mma being more about entertainment than sport. The only punitive action White could take is to never allow Anderson to headline a card again, any more than that and he hurts the company/sport.
It is a moot point anyway, Anderson is going to crush Sonnen.
┌∩┐(◕_◕)┌∩┐
Now that we've heard from Chael Sonnen's mom...
Chael will be aggressive.
Too aggressive. He’ll try to get in close and we all saw what happened to Forrest Griffin, Rich Franklin, and Dan Henderson. Silva is going to eat this guy alive. If chael tries for a takedown, he’ll get submitted. If he tries to stand, he’ll just get banged on. It’s going to be a bad night to be a Sonnen.
Dana can't cut Anderson.
The second he cuts Anderson, Soares pulls all his fighters from Zuffa cards and a lawsuit is filed.
He has no cause to cut him.
The way Zuffa contracts are written, and the fact that Anderson also holds their belt, makes it impossible for them to cut him. They’d be sued for breach of contract and wrongful termination.
If he dances around again, for the second fight in a row, I think your cause would be that he does not perform at his job. A “non job performanace” violation to the lay man if you will. Please correct me if I am wrong, but I think that his unwillingness to engage in the ring would be a just cause.
guys get cut from the UFC all the time. For an example just look at the up coming Shark Fights card. Unless you have certain knowledge of UFC contracts that the we here do not, I can see no lawfull reason that Dana can’t cut him. And if you have such knowledge, please share so that we may all be aware of the contract. From what I am told, Zuffa is a privately owened company and thus not requird to share it’s contracts with public. Much like how we do not see the business statements (Cash flow sheet, Balance Sheet, Owners Equity sheet, and Income Statment) of Zuffa.
Anderson can do whatever he wants in the cage.
Nothing he does is against the rules or illegal. You can’t punish someone for breaking no rules. Entertainment is not and never has been guaranteed in a fight or any athletic contest, that desire and want is created solely by the fans themselves. Anderson Silva has lived up to his contract in every facet: he made his appearances, he made the weight, and he competed just as he was scheduled. There is no legal cause to release him from a contract. A judge would absolutely rip Zuffa apart in court for that.
Zuffa contracts are binding. Both sides have to live up to their agreement. Coming off of win, you cannot be cut from the organization. You can win and your contract can expire and not be renewed, yes, but that’s different. You can also be cut following a suspension for drug test failure, but certainly not after winning a fight and you are still under contract. By virtue of his status as champion, Anderson is on an indefinite agreement (although he has 5 fights remaining, if he were still to be champion at the conclusion, it would roll over to a new 1 fight deal each time if he did not re-negotiate). Anderson is also on a PPV percentage deal, yielding him an agreed upon cut of the revenue of PPV purchases. There is MILLIONS of dollars involved in this agreement. You never, ever mess with clients that powerful, especially Ed Soares who has proven his savvy many times. Soares manages both Nogueira brothers, Jose Aldo, Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, Junior dos Santos, among a couple other fighters also under the Zuffa umbrella. You never risk harpooning your own business to prove a point; this whole stance is pure posturing from Dana White to appease the salivating public who operate under an absolutely ridiculous notion that fighters owe them something. He was not ever going to be cut, nor will he ever be without just cause (meaning several consecutive losses or the conclusion of his contract).
by Forrest Lynn on Aug 7, 2010 3:10 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
I can not agree that any judge would rip it apart. Here’s how that case goes; UFC calles judges/experts that say thou Silva lived up to the basics of the contract, he did not live up to the sprite of the contract. Then Silva’s camp calls judges/experts that says oh yes he did. Then the judge swings one way or the other. Then the losing side files an appeal. Somewhere in that time some sort of out of court settlement is reached and no, we don’t see Anderson Silva fight in the UFC again.
And I will ask again, where is this knowledge of UFC contracts from? Seeing as I do not know you personally, you must see how I can not take your word for it. I mean no disrespect, but I have to ask. I would assume you would ask of me the same thing if I were to present facts like that of a private company.
You're grasping at a lot of straws.
If Anderson got cut from a promotional contract for such frivilous reasons, basically all agreements written in that vein would become absolutely worthless. You cannot, I repeat, cannot cut someone from a contract because they didn’t “enterain” you. Entertainment is entirely subjective. Anderson Silva has not failed to live up the “spirit” of a contract, whatever that might mean. He fought Demian Maia, it wasn’t entertaining, but he engaged in a fight at the correct weight and absolutely dominated the contest. What in the hell grounds is that to terminate an agreement? The answer? None.
Zuffa contract policies are widely known. They have employed hundreds of fighters for almost 10 years now. Those policies are easy to learn, and if you speak with a manager of a fighter, they will tell you the details.
If he wins, there is no case...
Why? Because, if he really does not engage, the referee of the fight will have to start taking points away and finally DQ him. Thereby Silva can always control how far he can take it right inside the Octagon. In court he will always argue that if his performance was as bad as alleged, the ref would’ve had to take action and one or two measly points taken away in a championship fight will not be enough either.
To save me some time on 25% of all threads, here's the universal answer to the Fedor-debate: Fedor is the most accomplished MMA fighter ever. That is a fact. If he still is the best fighter at this point in time is up for debate.
I agree with Nightwhistler. I think Dana is a man of his word and if Anderson does dance around again then Dana will be quick to tell everyone that Silva is cut right at the post fight presser. That last fight was horrible. What a joke. The only reason I will see this fight is because I love Buffalo Wild Wings. Silva does act like he is above the brand and Dana’s ego and love for his business will never let someone do that. If I had to equate what that is like to so real world situatation, I would( and I mean this by only a "controling power equate, not a action or belife equale) say he has a dictatorship in the UFC where he would cut out anyone that would try to be more in controle then he. Let that person go somewhere else because Dana sees his brand as the top of the line.
If Silva does dance around and Dana does not cut him, let every website and TV program(the Jim Rome show)play the sound bite of him saying he would cut him every chance they get. I would hope that do see a mock of a fight and then Dana not to cut him would be a carear crushing blow to Dana White. Dana White is the face of the UFC. He must be a man of his word.
If Silva does indeed clown around for 25 minutes, I’m hoping the referee will break out the point deductions a lot sooner than the fifth round (as was the case in Silva-Maia). However, Dana has painted himself into a corner with his comments after UFC 112 and if he doesn’t like what he sees, he will fire Silva. If he didn’t do it, he’d lose face and that would be something completely against his persona/character. In UFC, you don’t cross the boss.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t be surprised if Silva was after getting fired. His desire to try his hand at boxing has been a public matter for quite a while – this would give him the opening.
You don't like wrestling in MMA? Go watch K-1.
by Monday Morning Martial Artist on Aug 7, 2010 5:46 AM EDT reply actions
Rather than cut him
It would be awesome if he got him to fight Shogun, Bones, Velasquez or Lesnar….
that would be punishment on facing caving level. perfect. in a word.
"I have come here to chew bubblegum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubblegum." ~ Roddy Piper
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