Wanderlei Silva and Andre Dida became a target after the UFC aired the episode where Silva and Chael Sonnen got into a fight during the The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 reality show tapiings.
Dida, who punched Sonnen in the back of the head after he took Silva down in the gym, said he did what he did to defend his friend. Silva, who teased Sonnen since the beginning of the show, trying to force him to apologize for his bad words against Brazil, claims that Sonnen was the only who initiated the brawl.
“People have no idea what was like to handle that guy teasing us every single day at TUF,” Silva wrote on his Facebook page. “That was the moment where the glass overflowed. We’re not in favor of any type of violence.
“This week, I’ll release a video so people will understand the whole context and not only the isolated fact. He started the brawl. I had already let it go and he kept teasing. I ask for apology for the bad impression.”
Speaking to MMA Fighting, Sonnen had a different version of the facts.
“It ended up being a two-on-one, and in that aspect, that was the most unfortunate part,” Sonnen said. “The whole thing is regrettable. It never should have happened. That’s one of the deals with reality TV. If you have a bad moment, you’re caught. Everyone may have a bad moment. They go in their car, you yell, turn on the radio in your car and yell. In reality TV, if you have a bad moment, you’re busted.
“And then what happened was the other knucklehead jumped in, that was a crime,” he said. “That’s what it was. That was straight up illegal.”
Silva recognizes that Dida’s behavior was “wrong”, but believes he had the “right motivation” when he jumped in to punch Sonnen.
“Who has a friend stays with him until the end,” Silva wrote. “The action was wrong but with the right motivation to defend a brother. I thank you, Andre Dida, for your loyalty, because it would have been much easier to do nothing. We know that you did what you did in the heat of the moment, without thinking about it, in defensive instinct.
“We met each other when we were 12 and I was like your older brother, and we’ve been through many things together. We got together after you became one of my coaches and we fight together ever since.”