Former Pride FC middleweight champion and UFC veteran Wanderlei Silva is once again ready to fight. After a drawn out legal battle with the Nevada Athletic Commission and the UFC, ‘The Axe Murderer’ is now signed to Bellator MMA and Rizin FF. The Brazilian striker was released from his UFC contract in January this year,
Former Pride FC middleweight champion and UFC veteran Wanderlei Silva is once again ready to fight. After a drawn out legal battle with the Nevada Athletic Commission and the UFC, ‘The Axe Murderer’ is now signed to Bellator MMA and Rizin FF. The Brazilian striker was released from his UFC contract in January this year, and his lifetime ban by the NAC was overturned. He is set to face fellow legend and former two-time opponent Kazushi Sakuraba in a tag team grappling match for Rizin. Paired with Kiyoshi Tamura against ‘Saku’ and Hideo Tokoro, Silva also hopes to fight under MMA rules for both Bellator and Rizin this year.
With a renewed vigour for combat competition clear in his latest media appearance, chances are Wanderlei will come in great shape for the busy months ahead. Speaking with MMAFighting.com, ‘The Axe Murderer’ was a far cry from the down and out and somewhat spiteful character we’d seen over the last two years. Check out the best bits from his interview hosted by Ariel Helwani:
“I was not happy with the terms (under the UFC), I was not happy with fighting, I just did not want to fight any more. But the Bellator and Rizin changed that, I got released from my contract, and now I want to fight again, they took away my problems. I think something went wrong, I was coming from the old school, I tried talking to (Dana White) but he said bad things about me. I like him, I respect him a lot, he helped changed the sport, so we finished our history and now we are going to start a new history.”
Now free of the ‘shackles’ the Zuffa promotion had once held him with, Silva still has very hard feelings towards the NAC, who have upheld a three year ban on the Brazilian competing in Nevada, in relation to a drug test he fled from in 2014. In Silva’s defense, they never really had the right to do so under the old rule set, as Silva wasn’t even a licensed fighter at the time. He continued:
“The Commission has no place telling someone who can and can’t work, I have to work to put food on my family table. How can they catch someone, and then two months later after they fight, then they reveal the test failure? If he is famous it’s one rule, if he’s not so famous it’s another….
The suits on Wall Street keep whispering about a ‘Halloween indicator‘ and how now is not a time to sell; rather we should sit back and let our riches mount. Call it what you will, but millions watched UFC on FOX and UFC 139 and concluded the same thing: Most fighter’s stocks are rising steadily. Even if you’re not sure which is the true Fight of the Year from this weekend — Dan Henderson vs. Marucio Rua or Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler — you’ll know how to safeguard your hypothetical MMA portfolio’s worth after playing another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’.
Stephan Bonnar: Buy
It’s hard to believe that any TUF veteran could take nearly a year off from the sport and return with the engine firing on all cylinders, but Stephan Bonnar did just that. The BJJ schooling he dished out was almost as surprising as his apology to Josh Koscheck for making those damn shirts. Even that wasn’t the most unexpected thing to happen; one judge gave the ‘American Psycho’ a 30-25 victory. Grab hold of any unclaimed stock before he starts getting big fights and Dana declares him “in the mix.”
(In a way, we were all the “Screaming PRIDE Lady” that night. / Photo courtesy of Esther Lin, MMA Fighting)
The suits on Wall Street keep whispering about a ‘Halloween indicator‘ and how now is not a time to sell; rather we should sit back and let our riches mount. Call it what you will, but millions watched UFC on FOX and UFC 139 and concluded the same thing: Most fighter’s stocks are rising steadily. Even if you’re not sure which is the true Fight of the Year from this weekend — Dan Henderson vs. Marucio Rua or Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler — you’ll know how to safeguard your hypothetical MMA portfolio’s worth after playing another round of ‘Buy, Sell, Hold’.
Stephan Bonnar: Buy
It’s hard to believe that any TUF veteran could take nearly a year off from the sport and return with the engine firing on all cylinders, but Stephan Bonnar did just that. The BJJ schooling he dished out was almost as surprising as his apology to Josh Koscheck for making those damn shirts. Even that wasn’t the most unexpected thing to happen; one judge gave the ‘American Psycho’ a 30-25 victory. Grab hold of any unclaimed stock before he starts getting big fights and Dana declares him “in the mix.”
Kyle Kingsbury: Sell it like a dog with fleas
When Kyle Kingsbury comes to mind, so does the letter ‘O’ – as in Outclassed, Outworked, and Oxymoron. Not once did this guy look like he belonged in the Octagon despite his four-fight win streak since losing his UFC debut against “Filthy” Tom Lawlor at the Ultimate Fighter 8 finale. Do not let critics scare you into keeping an underperforming stock by calling you a prisoner of the moment. After all, this is mixed martial arts where you’re only as good as your last fight.
Martin Kampmann – Buy
While some would argue that Martin Kampmann should be riding a five-fight win streak right now — with his previous decision losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez falling somewhere between “questionable” and “straight bullshit” — the truth is that the Hitman was one pitch away from being struck out. Just like baseball, MMA has its own set of unwritten rules, one of which is ‘three losses and you’re cut’, unless you’re Dan Hardy. Thankfully for the Danish fighter, he decoded the opponent’s signals, managed to hit a solid line drive, and made it on base. Keep your eye on this guy; big things are on the horizon.
Rick Story – Hold, Please
There are still a few chapters yet to be written about Rick Story‘s mixed martial arts career. What seemed at first to be a low comedy is now looking more like a familiar tragedy. The hype train derailed after Story was dominated by late replacement Charlie Brenneman at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry. Being fully aware that Story took that fight a little less than a month after defeating Thiago Alves, I still don’t like this investment at the moment because everything has to go right to make the stock go to the next level, and that’s a very tough call in this particular environment. Maybe he should listen to Joe Rogan going forward; at least he could tell Rick that giving up your back in the third round is not the wisest decision.
Urijah Faber – Buy it like they’re giving it away from free
Dominic Cruz will defend his Bantamweight title against “The California Kid” in a rubber match after Urijah Faber took out top contender Brian Bowles via submission. If it seems like we’re experiencing deja vu it’s because these two took Fight of the Night honors this past summer at UFC 132, a mere four months ago. Faber methodically picked his opponent apart and managed not to break his hands in the process. Kudos are in order. It won’t matter if he beats Cruz this time around just as it won’t matter if he never wins a belt in the UFC. People love this guy and so should you. TCKUF is MMA’s version of MEG.
Brian Bowles – Dump it like a Kardashian
Brian Bowles‘ calm acceptance of not being “one of the cool kids” is like me being okay with not being nominated for Journalist of the Year in the sense that any other reaction is complete nonsense and no amount of objection to the contrary would do a damn bit of good. The fear of breaking his hands again alone is enough to make the former champion hesitant and uncomfortable fighting the same style that lead to him headlining fight cards. I doubt he will ever be a legitimate contender again; for this reason I’m dumping all BB stock I own and suggest you do likewise.
Cung Le – Hold
I find it difficult to fault the Hollywood action star/three-time Wushu World Championships bronze medalist/2007 Kung Fu Artist of the Year/Former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion/lover of many slashes for coming up short in his UFC debut. Those pesky Octagon jitters are real, knowmsayin? Questionable stoppage or not, Cung Le was not going to win that fight. It just wasn’t meant to be, which leads me to the rest of the fighters on the UFC 139 PPV…
Wanderlei Silva, Dan Henderson, and Shogun Rua – Buy, Buy, Buy
Three former champions from PRIDE, Strikeforce, and UFC, all of whom are future Hall of Famers, looked defeat in the eyes and declared that they would not go down without a fight. “The Axe Murderer” got clipped, went down, and came back to welcome the aforementioned Cung Le to the big show the proper way — by punching and kneeing him into a bloody pulp. There’s a certain country in the Pacific Ocean that is just dying to see Wanderlei Silva return to the Land of the Rising Sun that will undoubtedly yield massive short term dividends.
Immediately after, Dan Henderson and Maurico “Shogun” Rua battled it out in what Dana White says is one of the top three fights in MMA history. Despite the initial reaction of the masses after seeing undefeated Michael Chandler choke out Eddie Alvarez for the Bellator lightweight championship, Hendo vs. Shogun is quite possibly the single best fight anyone has ever had the privilege of watching. Both men were rocked, bloodied, and generally pretty banged up entering the final round, one that never would have happened if Josh Rosenthal had his way. Henderson may have got the ‘W’, but both are winners in the eyes of the fans, even if some insist the fight should have been ruled a draw requiring an immediate rematch.
Load up on these fighters’ stock if you want to avoid being beaten with a stick — or worse! Until next time….
Once upon a time, you were terrified of Wanderlei Silva. He did scary things to people. He did it a lot. You kind of wondered if he was legitimately crazy. He intimidated opponents during his walk to the ring while the un-toughest techno you’ve ever heard played in the background — to the point that “Sandstorm” is now universally recognized as Badass. We didn’t even know that Badass had a transitive property, so we thank Wanderlei for teaching us that, as well.
The Axe Murderer returns to action this weekend, perhaps on the downside of his career. The Octagon has never been kind to Wandy — he’s got a 3-5 career record for the UFC– and he’s not getting any younger. If MMA does have a nine-year rule, then this 15+ year veteran should be ready to hang it up.
Once upon a time, you were terrified of Wanderlei Silva. He did scary things to people. He did it a lot. You kind of wondered if he was legitimately crazy. He intimidated opponents during his walk to the ring while the un-toughest techno you’ve ever heard played in the background — to the point that “Sandstorm” is now universally recognized as Badass. We didn’t even know that Badass had a transitive property, so we thank Wanderlei for teaching us that, as well.
The Axe Murderer returns to action this weekend, perhaps on the downside of his career. The Octagon has never been kind to Wandy — he’s got a 3-5 career record for the UFC– and he’s not getting any younger. If MMA does have a nine-year rule, then this 15+ year veteran should be ready to hang it up.
But he’s not. After sixteen months away from fighting to mend a boo boo and have an ouchie taken care of, Wanderlei Silva is ready to fight. He’s surgically repaired, rested, and, to hear him tell it, has a compulsion to get in the cage and fight somebody so powerful it borders on a physical need. ”I’ve been out. I had a hard year for me,” he told MMAFighting. “I’m a competitive guy. I like to be in the octagon and fight my whole life. I had a really tough year.” Never one to back down from a brawl, Wandy asked for, and got, a bout with Christian Cyrus Leben.
Now, you can’t throw a mini-recorder through a local MMA show in Parkville, Missouri without it recording some talk about “going to war” and “expect fireworks”, and yeah, sometimes we get a little jaded about it. Can we at least agree that it’s safe to believe it coming from these two? I, for one, am willing to believe that Silva just wants to go out there and throw hands. Unless the Athletic Commission is cool with stomps and soccer kicks; he’d totally be down for that, too.
Anyways, as your Lead Writer at the CagePotato Fanboyism Desk, i present this video of the nicest, sweetest explosively-violent man you could ever hope to meet. Enjoy.
Looking back at Wanderlei Silva’s multiple wars of attrition he’s slugged through in his career it’s easy to forget that “The Axe Murderer” is as intelligent and well spoken as he is.
The video above does a good job of reminding us.
Looking back at Wanderlei Silva’s multiple wars of attrition he’s slugged through in his career it’s easy to forget that “The Axe Murderer” is as intelligent and well spoken as he is.
The video above does a good job of reminding us.
Set to face fellow brawler Chris Leben at UFC 132 on July 2 after more than a year on the shelf spent rehabbing a knee injury, Silva recently shot the latest episode of his ongoing web documentary series recently while preparing for the bout and he spoke about the uphill battle of returning to the Octagon after surgery.
According to Wand, he thought for a minute about making an exit from the sport, but his fans and his burning desire to compete quashed the notion. Silva says he’s looking at his bout with Leben as the first step towards a comeback that he hopes will lead to him getting back to the upper echelon of the sport where he stood for many years while fighting for PRIDE.
“First I want to thank God for giving me motivation to keep training and to come back. This fight for me is really important. There were moments of doubt if I was ever going to come back. God really motivated me by giving me so many friends who helped me throughout the way,” Silva explains. “This comeback is to prove to you all that there’s always a way. Man, we have to put in the effort. We have to work hard. I don’t really know what I’m going to do when I stop fighting. Thanks to god there is lots of things to be done, but my life is to fight. I like being inside the Octagon. Inside the Octagon is where I really feel the energy of the fans.”
He says that, contrary to popular belief, being a fighter isn’t all partying with celebrities and driving expensive rides. It’s about struggle, hard work and perseverance.
“Fighters go through a lot. Many of the things that I’ve been through — keeping a job, injury, not making any money fighting, bills to pay and still fighting for that dream, raining, going to the gym every day… MMA is not a sprint, it’s a marathon. In MMA it’s impossible to become successful quickly,” he points out. “Without a [high] skill level you won’t be successful, especially today where you can see amateurs fighting like professionals. So this comeback is really important. It’s times like these you call it, ‘warrior time.’”
A perpetual fan favorite, Wand says that the messages and words of encouragement he received from his fans, who he prefers to call ‘friends,’ gave him the fortitude to keep training and working towards mounting his comeback.
“You guys who send me messages every day, sending me good vibes — every sentence I read each day is a great help and touches my heart. My fans are really amazing. That’s why I say, ‘I don’t have fans, I have friends.’ You guys give me great strength,” Silva says. “You made easier this time of recovery. It was hard, but you guys made it go by faster. Thanks to all of you. Now this is a thing of ‘ours.’”
(Video courtesy YouTube/WandFightTeam)
If you can make it through the terrible music without poking your eardrums out with a Slim Jim, this short Wanderlei Silva retrospective is definitely a good watch.The video opens with Wand heading to the hospital…
(Video courtesy YouTube/WandFightTeam)
If you can make it through the terrible music without poking your eardrums out with a Slim Jim, this short Wanderlei Silva retrospective is definitely a good watch. The video opens with Wand heading to the hospital for knee surgery, which, be forewarned if you have a weak disposition, they catalogue in graphic detail.
