(She makes an arousing compelling argument.)
It has not been a good year for heated rematches set against the backdrop of MMA-themed reality shows. Not only were our hopes of Faber/Cruz III dashed before our very eyes on the tail end of what has been a forgettable season of TUF 15 here in America, but even the coaches of TUF: Brazil (or at least one-half of them) have been bitten by the injury bug, delaying a rematch that not only promised guaranteed fireworks, but one that has eluded us for what seems like a decade now.
And apparently Wanderlei Silva, a.k.a the TUF: Brazil coach who wasn’t forced out of his expected matchup at UFC 147, shares our frustration. Ever since Vitor Belfort was forced to withdraw from his much-anticipated rematch with “The Axe Murderer” due to a broken hand, Silva has seemingly exploded with rage at Belfort’s…I don’t know, clumsiness? Insolence? We’re not really sure how you criticize someone for getting injured, unless that someone is Ken Shamrock, of course, but Wandy was relentless in his mockery of Belfort, calling him an “amateur” among other things in a recent Twitter tirade:
(Fighting me) with one hand (laughs)? We are professionals. It’s a great irresponsibility not to be careful on training, a great disrespect towards the fans. I’m really sad. I’m ready to knock you out, you have nowhere to run. This fight is happening. I guess you got scared of me. Nobody trains so hard that breaks his hand. We use the best equipments, gloves, bandages.
If you were scared, you shouldn’t have accepted it. If you really got it broken, it’s amateurism and if you didn’t, you’re scared. In both scenarios, it was irresponsible of you towards the fans. Pardon the word, but I’m pissed with your amateurism. A main event on the biggest event of the world and the guy shows up like that.
Of course, when asked to respond to these harsh claims, Belfort was his usual combination of respectful/devout, refusing to trade insults with his long time rival. His lovely, lovely, wife, on the other hand, would not stand idly by and listen to her man be made a fool of, responding to Wanderlei with this little poorly-translated zinger:
The only thing Wanderlei can do is talk too much, he chickened out several times on fighting Vitor… and now he comes to talk my husband is ducking. If you doubt, the next opponent of Wand in UFC147 will beat the record of 40 sec of vitor Belfort or Chris Leben 20 seconds hahahaha.
Aaaaaand boom goes the dynamite. As much as we love Wandy, the fact that Vitor, you know, utterly destroyed him in their first meeting doesn’t really help his “Vitor’s scared” theory. There has been no response from Wanderlei, nor a replacement opponent named for his expected appearance at UFC 147, so we ask unto you, Potato Nation, who would you like to see “The Axe Murderer” face come June 23rd?