Wanderlei Silva: UFC threatened to sue if I appeared at Bellator event

Wanderlei Silva is at it again with another video blasting the UFC. This time, his monologue was mostly about his assertion that the UFC threatened to sue him if he appeared at a Bellator fan event earlier this month.

Silva was advertised for an autograph signing the week of Bellator 131 in San Diego, which went head-to-head with UFC 180. “The Axe Murderer” said he was promised $10,000 for two hours of signing. A few days before, he received an email from the UFC telling him that the organization would take legal action if he went forward with the event, Silva said.

Silva is still under contract with the UFC, though he is banned from MMA competition by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) and says he is retired.

“I am retired, I don’t fight anymore, I lost the desire,” Silva said on the video, which was posted Friday. “So what stops me from generating income now? Are these people going to keep threatening me? They’ll keep coming to sue me every time I work with my image? How is that going to be? This is a shame. These guys are doing things above the law. Because the law clearly states that every person is free to come and go. And they want to take that away from the athletes? How is that?”

This is Silva’s fourth video with anti-UFC overtones since the NAC ruled he could no longer compete due to evading a drug test in May. In September, he put out a video on his YouTube channel officially announcing his retirement and vowing to start a “war” against promoters, bashing them for underpaying and mistreating fighters. There were words like that in this most recent video.

“There’s so much wrong in all of this,” Silva said. “This is a new sport where the rules were dictated by the same people who are giving these contracts to the fighters to sign. This is not right at all, this is wrong. We can’t live under this kind of control.”

UFC president Dana White told Combate in September that Silva is putting up a smokescreen when he was the one at fault for running from a test and using diuretics, which he has admitted. White also said Silva made $9.7 million in seven years with the organization.

Silva has denied that figure on Twitter. Now he’s angry because apparently with his contract he cannot make money off his name without UFC consent. Of course, the event being run by Bellator, the UFC’s biggest domestic competitor, probably has plenty to do with why Silva was issued an informal cease and desist.

“So I can’t work anymore, I can’t profit from the image that I built with my blood, my sweat, my heart and everything that you all witnessed?” Silva said. “These guys have already profited so much off of me. So are they going to pay me for my time, are they going to ask if I need that income to live? Will they pay my bills? You want to keep my contract without giving me any income? You want to use my name even after I die, but not even my own son has rights over my name? So you want to use Wanderlei Silva to the end and not pay me anything for it? So I spilled all my blood for nothing.”

In the video, Silva also sympathizes with Quinton Jackson about his issues with Bellator and apologizes to Cain Velasquez for questioning the validity of his injury.

“I picked the wrong words when referring to his withdrawal from the Werdum fight,” Silva said. “And I know he had a serious injury, so I come to say sorry. I was wrong, I am sorry and of course you are a great champion.”

Wanderlei Silva is at it again with another video blasting the UFC. This time, his monologue was mostly about his assertion that the UFC threatened to sue him if he appeared at a Bellator fan event earlier this month.

Silva was advertised for an autograph signing the week of Bellator 131 in San Diego, which went head-to-head with UFC 180. “The Axe Murderer” said he was promised $10,000 for two hours of signing. A few days before, he received an email from the UFC telling him that the organization would take legal action if he went forward with the event, Silva said.

Silva is still under contract with the UFC, though he is banned from MMA competition by the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) and says he is retired.

“I am retired, I don’t fight anymore, I lost the desire,” Silva said on the video, which was posted Friday. “So what stops me from generating income now? Are these people going to keep threatening me? They’ll keep coming to sue me every time I work with my image? How is that going to be? This is a shame. These guys are doing things above the law. Because the law clearly states that every person is free to come and go. And they want to take that away from the athletes? How is that?”

This is Silva’s fourth video with anti-UFC overtones since the NAC ruled he could no longer compete due to evading a drug test in May. In September, he put out a video on his YouTube channel officially announcing his retirement and vowing to start a “war” against promoters, bashing them for underpaying and mistreating fighters. There were words like that in this most recent video.

“There’s so much wrong in all of this,” Silva said. “This is a new sport where the rules were dictated by the same people who are giving these contracts to the fighters to sign. This is not right at all, this is wrong. We can’t live under this kind of control.”

UFC president Dana White told Combate in September that Silva is putting up a smokescreen when he was the one at fault for running from a test and using diuretics, which he has admitted. White also said Silva made $9.7 million in seven years with the organization.

Silva has denied that figure on Twitter. Now he’s angry because apparently with his contract he cannot make money off his name without UFC consent. Of course, the event being run by Bellator, the UFC’s biggest domestic competitor, probably has plenty to do with why Silva was issued an informal cease and desist.

“So I can’t work anymore, I can’t profit from the image that I built with my blood, my sweat, my heart and everything that you all witnessed?” Silva said. “These guys have already profited so much off of me. So are they going to pay me for my time, are they going to ask if I need that income to live? Will they pay my bills? You want to keep my contract without giving me any income? You want to use my name even after I die, but not even my own son has rights over my name? So you want to use Wanderlei Silva to the end and not pay me anything for it? So I spilled all my blood for nothing.”

In the video, Silva also sympathizes with Quinton Jackson about his issues with Bellator and apologizes to Cain Velasquez for questioning the validity of his injury.

“I picked the wrong words when referring to his withdrawal from the Werdum fight,” Silva said. “And I know he had a serious injury, so I come to say sorry. I was wrong, I am sorry and of course you are a great champion.”