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What is going on with Anderson Silva’s camp?
By Zach Arnold | October 20, 2009
Quotes from Ed Soares on Sherdog today sure seem to be indicators of some waffling about whether or not they really want to do the fight against Vitor Belfort on January 2nd. I admit, the prospects of Belfort/Silva don’t excite me a great deal, but by going back and forth on this fight Anderson’s camp is acting a little scared here. I don’t understand it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not buying into Shawn Tompkins’ comments on Fox News Fight Game last week that Vitor Belfort could be a Top 10 boxer today. With that said, what’s the hesitancy here by Silva’s camp in just taking the booking and getting what needs to get done afterwards?
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 60 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
@45 Huddle (post 45, ironically)
Agree 100%.
This is an absolutely terrible place for the UFC to be heading.
Nit-picking and whining about specific opponents is like an over-privileged Hollywood actress turning up her nose at film roles. If I wanted to hear about that kind of garbage I’d visit Perez Hilton, not Sherdog and Fight Opinion.
Cowboy up and stop complaining, Linsday Lohan! Sign on to fight Machida like a man and stop talking about stupid boxing matches.
Boo hoo, armchair Zuffa board members. It’s a downside of vast success like UFC is having: people start wanting a bigger slice of the pie they baked.
When you had a small company comprised of the top draw getting less than 100K to win a title fight they could honestly say they cared about what was best to help the business grow. Well, the business grew. Now it’s time for people to start looking out for #1.
I’m really having a hard time blaming Anderson, the dude can do what he wants. Is he, somehow by not fighting Vitor hurting me? No, I don’t care about that fight.
Because of the risk in this fight they want a bunch more money up front or to avoid it all together and move up to heavyweight.
Roadblock is completely on point. Silva, as is, gains nothing by taking this fight. It doesn’t do anything for his reputation historically if he wins because, well, Vitor is Vitor. He doesn’t gain any favor with management, doesn’t gain any ground renegotiating money, etc. No matter when he decides to stand his ground and renegotiate, the terms never change; there will always be two guys the UFC can randomly decide to square off for a interim title. The UFC will always have the theorized upper hand. Today is no different than six months from now or two years down the road. Hell, better to do it now than a couple years later since that’s income you’re generating now and beyond.
The fight will probably happen and Silva’s contract will be renegotiated. That or they’ll somehow find a way to sweeten the card and Silva’s PPV percentage by throwing someone else on there to jump the buys.
Brock Lesnar gains nothing by taking a fight with Shane Carwin. Heck, Carwin only has one big win. Lesnar is the draw. He should just forget about the fight and demand a fight with Liddell since he could get more money out of it. Or what about Machida with Rua. Rua is such an underdog that Machida should just say no to that fight. He shouldn’t fight until he gets Couture. GSP gains nothing by fighting the winner of Swick/Hardy, but he certainly is going to do so. Penn gains nothing by fighting Sanchez either. Then again, if you really break it down, anytime a #1 fighter is defending his crown, he really only has something to lose. There will always be more potential downside while on top. So this talk about Silva not having anything to gain is a joke. If that was the case, no champion would ever defend his title.
Let me get this straight. Silva basically shouldn’t take a fight with Marquardt, Henderson, or Belfort. I assume some people would lump in Okami as well. Those are his top 4 challengers. And he is unwilling to fight Machida, so he automatically voids himself from the LHW discussion.
When did it ever become exceptable to justify a fighter ducking other fighters and being “too good” in the process? It is never okay.
Brock Lesnar gains nothing by taking a fight with Shane Carwin.
Brock Lesnar, of course, makes a lot more money than Silva, both guaranteed and due to PPV percentage. Silva, meanwhile, isn’t going to make tons of money fighting Belfort and likely isn’t going to be offered tons of money if he beats Belfort. As far as the argument for legacy goes, its probably a meaningless that ends up getting slotted next to the Lutter fight (a guy who, btw, I think probably beats Belfort) when all is said and done.
Silva basically shouldn’t take a fight with Marquardt, Henderson, or Belfort.
Silva fighting the winner of Marqhardt/Henderson I’m fine with, assuming that fight ever happens. That would be a fight with some buzz to it.
When did it ever become exceptable to justify a fighter ducking other fighters and being “too good” in the process?
Its justified all the time because of promotional considerations by you. “Ducking” is a funny term to use for this, btw. Its not as if Belfort is the consensus #2 middleweight in the world.
Fitch is off of the UFC 106 card due to Ricardo Almeida blowing out his knee. Wrestling Observer is reporting they may run Fitch vs. Hughes at a future event (since Fitch said “I’ll instead take a fight people have been waiting for for a long time.) That could be the star fight needed to pop buys for UFC 108 when combined with Evans-Silva. It won’t do blockbuster buys but it’s far more interesting to casuals with Hughes.
I would really like for people to start reporting things based on more than intuition from a rumor. I wouldn’t at all be shocked to see it be Alves again. Additionally, why would Hughes want to fight Fitch instead of Swick or Koscheck? How does that make any more sense for him?
“Believe it when I see it” bin for Hughes/Fitch. Would be a good bout though.
Bleacher Report is saying it will be Fitch vs. Alves:
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/276346-almeida-out-fitch-vs-alves-likely
That’s just someone speculating on a blog anyone can post on.