Upon seeing Anderson Silva’s weigh-in shoulder strike, Keith Kizer had a Dana White moment.
Even though it doesn’t appear that Anderson Silva will be punished for striking Chael Sonnen with his shoulder at the UFC 148 weigh-in, Nevada State Athletic Commission Head Keith Kizer made it clear that he is very disappointed with the UFC middleweight champion. In fact, he’s so disappointed that he told “The Spider” that another such incident would get him banned from competing in Nevada. According to MMAJunkie.com, these were Kizer’s exact words to Anderson Silva:
“Look, if you ever, despite your previous record with us as a good licensee, if you ever do anything like this again, that’s it for you in Nevada. You’ll be fighting your fights elsewhere.”
So if the NSAC is so upset with Silva, then why isn’t he getting fined for his actions? Ironically – or perhaps fittingly – it was Chael Sonnen playing The Voice of Reason.
When Keith Kizer met with Chael Sonnen to discuss the incident, Chael was “very forgiving” towards the champion, and didn’t call for any type of serious disciplinary action. According to Kizer, the most that Chael Sonnen suggested was a small fine, but made it clear that he personally wouldn’t even fine Anderson for the incident.
Keith Kizer and NSAC chairman Raymond “Skip” Avansino, who had the final authority in what actions would be taken against Anderson Silva, had a far different encounter with Anderson Silva. While Sonnen was reasonable, Silva flat-out refused to acknowledge that his actions were uncalled for when he was initially confronted about the incident. As Kizer recalls:
“Anderson had some very lame excuse initially about, ‘Oh, well, Chael put his head down at the beginning of that,’” Kizer recounted. “I’m like, ‘C’mon, that’s silly.’ And then he said, ‘Well, I’m upset about what he said about my wife.’ I said, ‘Look, I understand that, but that’s not an excuse for doing what you did. It’s inexcusable what you did.’
Keith Kizer has also addressed how Anderson Silva rubbed Vaseline off of his face and onto his body before the fight. While Kizer admits that he’s noticed Anderson Silva do that before, he pointed out that on Saturday night, it was “more blatant that we expected.” He pointed out that UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta also noticed the incident on Saturday night, and praised referee Yves Lavigne for being quick to wipe Silva off before the fight.
So, does this tarnish your view of Anderson Silva at all? Is he alone in this, or do you think he just managed to get caught? And how serious do you think Keith Kizer actually is about banning the UFC’s most dominant champion? Let the debate resume. Keep it clean – No Vaseline, no grabbing your keyboards. This isn’t a cage fight, you guys.