Vitor Belfort knows whats it’s like to coach a season of The Ultimate Fighter with Wanderlei Silva, but he was still surprised with Silva’s brawl with Chael Sonnen.
Belfort, who coached the first season of TUF: Brazil in 2012 opposite to his longtime rival, was “embarrassed” to see the sixth episode of TUF: Brazil 3, when Silva and Sonnen engage in a brawl before the weigh-ins for one of the reality show bouts.
“The brawl between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen at TUF Brazil embarrassed me,” Belfort wrote on his Facebook page. “First because MMA is not violence, is a fight between two guys that are prepared for it and inside an Octagon. That’s what I do. I don’t brawl, I fight. Second, there’s no room for this kind of behavior in a sport like MMA in a time that the sport has its rules inside and outside the Octagon.
Chael Sonnen on brawl
“Third and most importantly, MMA can’t influence this behavior that ends in assault as if it were the appropriate model of behavior. Millions of young kids suffer with violence inside and outside their schools, and the television can’t be driving this behavior, so the athletes need to represent control no matter what.”
Wanderlei Silva was part of a campaign in Brazil, in 2013, against violence in the streets. In the video, Silva says that people should dominate the anger to avoid fights, but that’s now what he did in the reality show.
“MMA fighters must urgently be aware that the behavior inside and outside the Octagon can influence millions of people in a good or a bad way,’ Belfort continued. “I chose to influence for good because MMA also chose this path. Anything outside of that is no longer MMA, so it definitely not me.”