Wanderlei Silva’s exit from mixed martial arts certainly hasn’t been graceful.
Prior to receiving a lifetime ban from competition by the Nevada Athletic Commission on Tuesday, Silva retired from the sport in a video alleging the mistreatment of the UFC’s fighters, among other grievances.
Wednesday, Silva took his issues with his former employer a leap further by bringing UFC president Dana White’s integrity into question over the removal of a judge during the Aug. 3 event in Macau, China.
“This same commission was taken to Macau for an event, and there were three judges around the Octagon,” Silva told PVT. “Suddenly, the owner of this promotion, who thinks he owns the sport, didn’t like the scores from one of the judges, and what did he do? He put (the judge) out of the arena. How can we be sure this guy is not controlling the results of the fights? How can we be sure this is not a circus?”
Speaking with media Thursday in Las Vegas, White chalked up much of Silva’s bad blood to timing.
“Lorenzo was just saying this morning — every f**king time you and I have ever seen Wanderlei Silva in our life he’s over the top ‘you guys are the best, you’ve built this sport, I don’t know where any of us would be if it wasn’t for you’,” Nothing but positive things to say. Then now he’s in this situation and he’s trying to build a smoke screen. I don’t blame him. I can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing if I was in his position. It’s part of this business,” White said.
“Nobody has ever run from a drug test before. I didn’t see a lifetime ban coming. Nobody will let him fight. He’s in a very serious situation, but Wanderlei’s at the end of his career. He was going to fight one more fight and retire. It’s not like this is some 22 year old kid. He said, ‘I got one more fight boss, one more big fight’ and he was done. He also told me he thought we were the greatest guys in the world and we helped build the sport so maybe he didn’t mean that either.”
As for a spot in the UFC’s often revised Hall of Fame, Silva shouldn’t hold his breath.
“There’s going to be no Hall of Fame. The guy’s been Pete Rose’d,” White said. “There’s going to be no Hall of Fame offers.”
5 MUST-READ STORIES
Football stadiums. Conor McGregor explains how he’s one of three athletes in the UFC that could fill a stadium and why he’s more bankable for a title shot than Frankie Edgar or Cub Swanson.
Cowboy. Donald Cerrone is apathetic on belts, wants Khabib Nurmagomedov if he can be ready to go soon and responds to comments made by Bobby Green.
Damn, Gina. Dana White calls Gina Carano ‘the hardest human being we’ve ever dealt with.’
‘The Axe Murderer.’ Dave Meltzer examines the complex legacy of Wanderlei Silva.
Hospitalized. Jose Aldo dealt with more health problems recently as he was diagnosed with kidney stones last week.
MEDIA STEW
Check out interviews with Eddie Alvarez, Dustin Poirier, Cat Zingano, Dominick Cruz, Takeya Mizugaki and others.
UFC 178 Embedded episode 4.
UFC 178 media face offs.
McGregor vs. the featherweights.
Bellator 126 preview.
Cat Zingano – Why I Fight.
More unnecessary censorship.
Friday overload.
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Bas Rutten Says “No More Single Kicks” in This Week’s “Viewer Submissions”
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UFC 178 Free Fight: Eddie Alvarez vs Ross Ebanez
Long watches.
Andreas Kraniotakes – You Either Win Or you Learn
TWEETS
Kogan going hard.
So first they lie, then they trash my boy @natediaz209 in public saying he’s scared to fight, he’s not… http://t.co/cSkykpEUzg
— Mike Kogan (@MikeKogan) September 26, 2014
‘After the gym today. I’m not where I want to be but I’m starting to be in a good shape.’
Après la gymnastique aujourd’hui. Je ne suis pas encore ou je veux être mais je commence à être dans une bonne forme. pic.twitter.com/qKSCXs47A2
— Georges St-Pierre (@GeorgesStPierre) September 25, 2014
Get well soon.
This is the difference. Khabib works hard. Pettis party’s hard. @ufc @danawhite @lorenzofertitta https://t.co/zp2YLT8GgU
— khabib nurmagomedov (@TeamKhabib) September 25, 2014
No pants.
Making weight like a KING!! @Dethrone http://t.co/8qpXyscb9j #StayReady http://t.co/9Ug2TW2rHS pic.twitter.com/brbbPXyAzm
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) September 26, 2014
No pants are the best pants!! #nopantsalways #nopantsarethebestpants http://t.co/oZGw9iWxQh pic.twitter.com/nByNQdvmGz
— ‘Rowdy’ Bec Rawlings (@RowdyBec) September 26, 2014
More cutting.
Weight is on point @monsterenergy #UFC178 http://t.co/Y0r8Z8Tx14 pic.twitter.com/mSH1zeThkO
— Dominick Cruz (@TheDomin8r) September 25, 2014
meanwhile…
Look at this.. Michael chandler eye balling my birthday cupcakes http://t.co/q7OBKcLmDJ pic.twitter.com/pquCErgvS2
— Phil Davis (@PhilMrWonderful) September 25, 2014
OK.
My manager just told me I’m fighting in jan against a very good opponent. Thank you @danawhite @ufc
— Rustam Khabilov (@RustamTheTiger) September 25, 2014
Couldn’t hurt. Show needs some help.
“@donallogue: Hard to imagine a person who could fit more seamlessly into the shadowy world of @Gotham than @Unclecreepymma” #dreamcometrue
— Ian McCall (@Unclecreepymma) September 26, 2014
Damn.
My wife’s attempt to shave my neck hair. pic.twitter.com/fgeq5DX9qy
— Jon Fitch (@jonfitchdotnet) September 25, 2014
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Announced yesterday (Sept. 25 2014)
NA
FANPOST OF THE DAY
Today’s Fanpost of the Day comes via PhilipH.
This Saturday night, the MGM grand garden arena in Las Vegas will play host to UFC 178. The show will be headlined by flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson defending his title against relatively unknown challenger Chris Cariaso. Although you would hardly know it from looking at a lot of the promotional material surrounding the event. The reason for this is Dublin’s own Conor McGregor. The McGregor promotional machine has caused enough of a buzz to overshadow the rest of the spectacular card. Ireland is united behind their favourite fighting son and the rest of the world is clambering to see what will happen. They want to see him win or they want to see the hype train come to an abrupt stop, either way, they want to see him. To truly become a megastar in the fight game, it never hurts to be a polarising figure.
Currently 3-0 in the UFC and coming off a first round knockout win in Dublin last July, Conor is facing what nobody denies will be his biggest test to date in Dustin Poirier. 8-2 in the UFC the American is good everywhere and always dangerous. At the media day stare downs on Thursday Conor and Dustin had to be separated by UFC president Dana White, the chest pumping will almost certainly continue until fight day. McGregor seems to revel in this sort of occasion where as Poirier appears to be letting Conor’s antics get to him. Fighters will often look for any mental edge in the lead up to a contest, round one to Ireland’s own.
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Check out the rest of the post here.
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