UFC 147 serves as the finale for the Brazilian version of The Ultimate Fighter. Headlined by coach Wanderlei Silva and replacement Rich Franklin, who is filling in for Vitor Belfort, the card will the second put on in Brazil this year.In the featherwei…
UFC 147 serves as the finale for the Brazilian version of The Ultimate Fighter. Headlined by coach Wanderlei Silva and replacement Rich Franklin, who is filling in for Vitor Belfort, the card will the second put on in Brazil this year.
In the featherweight final, Rony Jason meets Godofredo Pepey. As for the middleweight final, Cezar Mutante meets replacement Sergio Moraes, who fills in for original finalist Daniel Sarafian.
Here is a look at each cast member versus cast member matchup, giving a quick look at the fights for those unfamiliar with the fighters from the show.
Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum may have a strange aura of familiarity with his bout against Mike Russow on Saturday at UFC 147. Not simply because of fighting in his native Brazil, but also with an opponent like the tough Russow.Werdum spoke to MMAJunkie…
Fabricio “Vai Cavalo” Werdum may have a strange aura of familiarity with his bout against Mike Russow on Saturday at UFC 147. Not simply because of fighting in his native Brazil, but also with an opponent like the tough Russow.
Werdum spoke to MMAJunkie about his upcoming fight with the Chicago police officer.
“People who aren’t that famous but have a long win streak, those are the ones you have to watch out for. It already happened to me in the UFC when I fought against Junior Dos Santos. He was fairly unknown at that time. He surprised me,” Werdum said.
Werdum faced Junior dos Santos when many in the MMA community considered him to be nothing more than another Brazilian prospect. JDS would shock the world with a huge uppercut that floored Werdum in a single punch. The loss sent Werdum out of the UFC, where he eventually found a home in Strikeforce.
Although he didn’t wish to take anything away from his adversary, Werdum was open in admitting he wasn’t doing things the right way and wasn’t training like he should.
“‘Cigano’ did his job as he was supposed to. So, if I wasn’t training, if I wasn’t focused, that’s on me. That failure was mine, completely mine. I didn’t watch his fights. I knew he could box but I didn’t know how good he was. That’s what happens. I learned a lot from that fight,” Werdum said. (MMAJunkie)
He holds no ill will towards the current heavyweight champion, going so far as to thank JDS.
“I am even thankful in a way because if not for Junior, I would not have exited the UFC, and I would have never had the best fight of my life, which was against FedorEmelianenko,” Werdum said.
Indeed it was Werdum’s fight against Emelianenko that has become the major highlight in the Brazilian’s career. Werdum was the man to snap Emelianenko‘s winning streak and virtually erased the aura of invincibility the Russian once had.
Russow is a tough and talented fighter that has proven to possess one-punch KO power. Considered a step down in competition for Werdum, “Vai Cavalo” knows he doesn’t want to make the same mistake he made against JDS.
“Since I’m trying to make up for lost time in my career, and since I’ve never been one to wait around, I took the challenge against Russow, who’s nearly undefeated,” Werdum said. “I’ve been studying him thoroughly, so I know his habits,” Werdum said.
Werdum also has his eyes on a possible rematch with “Cigano.” Widely considered a top-five heavyweight, Werdum could be in the running for a title match if he can put on as impressive a display against Russow as the Brazilian did against Roy Nelson in his UFC return.
And Werdum knows exactly how he wants to go about having the rematch.
“After beating Russow, my plan is to go into the ‘TUF: Brazil’ house and shoot a second season opposite Dos Santos. It would be great if we could coach our own teams and then face each other at the end of the season. I’m sure that the Brazilian fans would love it. First I have to win this fight, then I can bring up my idea to the UFC,” Werdum said.
While nobody can fault Werdum for having plans for his future, let’s hope his focus is on Russow until after UFC 147.
The UFC puts on a lot of interesting events.On a personal level, I’d say that I genuinely look forward to roughly 85 percent of all television or pay-per-view fight cards. There are plenty of times when fans will scoff at upcoming cards before they eve…
The UFC puts on a lot of interesting events.
On a personal level, I’d say that I genuinely look forward to roughly 85 percent of all television or pay-per-view fight cards. There are plenty of times when fans will scoff at upcoming cards before they ever happen, and those maligned cards—often featuring unknown fighters—almost always deliver above expectations.
Almost all of that can be attributed to the UFC’s grand duo of matchmakers, Joe Silva and Sean Shelby. Their knowledge and understanding of the technical aspects of the fight game is nearly without equal. Both men are adept at making something out of nothing. That’s a strong skill to have in this era of repeated fighter injuries.
Silva and Shelby have earned my trust over the years. And I’m not saying that Saturday’s UFC 147 fight card won’t be awesome, because there’s every chance it will be. It’s chock-full of Brazilian talent trying to make a name for themselves, and that usually equals an awesome time. We might be in for a night of incredible finishes and fantastic fights.
But it’s difficult to see that right now, isn’t it?
I consider myself to be an avid fight fan. I watch a ton of fights, from the UFC on to the tiniest Brazilian fight cards I can find streaming on the Internet. And I admit that even with all that fight-watching, I still don’t recognize the majority of the fighters taking part in bouts on UFC 147.
Wanderlei Silva. Rich Franklin. Mike Russow. Fabricio Werdum. I know these fighters. I recognize them. But I literally do not recognize a single name outside of those four. Some of that could have been rectified if I’d watched The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, but I elected to wait and watch the Fuel TV broadcast instead.
The UFC does the best they can with what they are given. When UFC 147 was first conceived, it was going to be the biggest event in the history of the promotion, taking place in a soccer stadium with the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen in the main event.
But things happened—OK, a whole bunch of things happened, from injuries to politics—and this is what they’re stuck with. And no, they couldn’t simply switch the event to free television. The contracts Zuffa signs with pay-per-view providers prevents that from happening. It’s not a viable option, even though it seems like the best solution.
They’re not trying to sell you a bill of goods, either. Advertising for UFC 147 has been virtually non-existent, with the company rightly focusing on next month’s UFC 148 event instead. Zuffa realizes that fan interest in this one is low, and they’re using their resources to promote the bigger events coming up later in the summer.
The low end for UFC pay-per-views over the past few years seems to be roughly 224,000. Will UFC 147’s final number come in significantly lower than that average, or even fall below the 125,000 buys pulled in by UFC 55?
It’s tough to say, but there’s a chance. Silva vs. Franklin isn’t the kind of main event you’d expect to see on a UFC pay-per-view in 2012, but it’s the best they could come up with on short notice after Vitor Belfort broke his hand training for the fight. And the fact that most of the card is filled with completely unknown fighters won’t help matters.
In the end, UFC 147 could end up being one of the greatest, most action-packed fight cards in UFC history. But will anyone actually watch it?
(Wanderlei Silva, seen here mirroring the feelings of everyone who purchased a ticket for any UFC event this summer.)
The tales of UFC 147–UFC 149 are not unlike the tale of Meg Ryan. What started off as a moderately attractive, if not rather inviting group of cards, has undergone so many face lifts and botched botox injections that they have been left a hollowed, sun-dried husk of what it once was. It has gotten so bad, in fact, that most of us can’t even recognize the frumpy, blonde haired cards we fell in love with in the first place and now must resort to faking it. “It” being interest.
So you’ll forgive our apathy as we inform you that TUF: Brazil finalist Daniel Sarafian has been forced to withdraw from his matchup with fellow finalist Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira less than a week out from UFC 147. UFC.com broke the news:
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil® middleweight favorite Daniel Sarafian, who earned a spot in the finals with an impressive flying-knee knockout, has been injured and cannot compete in this Saturday’s UFC® 147: Silva vs. Franklin II.
More from this story and the tattered remains of the UFC 147 fight card are after the jump.
(Wanderlei Silva, seen here mirroring the feelings of everyone who purchased a ticket for any UFC event this summer.)
The tales of UFC 147–UFC 149 are not unlike the tale of Meg Ryan. What started off as a moderately attractive, if not rather inviting group of cards, has undergone so many face lifts and botched botox injections that they have been left a hollowed, sun-dried husk of what it once was. It has gotten so bad, in fact, that most of us can’t even recognize the frumpy, blonde haired cards we fell in love with in the first place and now must resort to faking it. “It” being interest.
So you’ll forgive our apathy as we inform you that TUF: Brazil finalist Daniel Sarafian has been forced to withdraw from his matchup with fellow finalist Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira less than a week out from UFC 147. UFC.com broke the news:
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil® middleweight favorite Daniel Sarafian, who earned a spot in the finals with an impressive flying-knee knockout, has been injured and cannot compete in this Saturday’s UFC® 147: Silva vs. Franklin II.
Stepping in for Sarafian at the Finale will be jiu-jitsu expert Sergio “Serginho” Moraes, a Team Vitor prospect who was switched to Team Wanderlei mid-season and made it to the semifinals. Moraes will now face coach Vitor Belfort‘s protege Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira in a three-round bout to determine the first-ever middleweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil®.
The featherweight finals will feature Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra of Team Wanderlei fighting teammate GodoFredo Pepey, who also started out on Team Vitor.
So, as of this moment, UFC 147 is basically a glorified TUF Finale card…that now lacks both the original matchup between the show’s coachesand the original matchup to determine one of the winners of said TUF season. But, fret not, the featherweight final match will still go down as scheduled. So there’s that.
Since we’re obviously past the point where we can do a fight picking type contest for you guys, does anyone wanna take a swing at how low UFC 147′s PPV numbers will be? Because we’re guessing one level below piss poor.
Here’s the remaining lineup for those of you who give two shits.
Main card: Rich Frankin vs. Wanderlei Silva
Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira vs. Sergio “Serginho” Moraes (“TUF: Brazil” middleweight final)
Rony “Jason” Mariano Bezerra vs. Godofredo “Pepey” de Oliveira (“TUF: Brazil” featherweight final) Mike Russow vs. Fabricio Werdum
Yuri Alcantara vs. Hacran Dias
Preliminary card: Rodrigo Damm vs. Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros
Francisco “Massaranduba” Drinaldo vs. Delson “Pe de Chumbo” Heleno
John “Macapa” Teixeira vs. Hugo “Wolverine” Viana
Leonardo “Macarrao” Mafra Teixeira vs. Thiago de Oliveira Perpetuo
Marcos Vinicius “Vina” Borges Pancini vs. Wagner “Galeto” Campos
Felipe Arantes vs. Milton Vieira
In his prime, Wanderlei Silva was the scariest man in MMA — the kind of fighter you’d cross the cage just to avoid. As he heads into his main event fight against Rich Franklin at UFC 147 this Saturday, let’s take a moment to remember the Axe Murderer the way he should be remembered. Our favorite GIFs of Wandy tearing people apart and acting like a psycho begin after the jump…
In his prime, Wanderlei Silva was the scariest man in MMA — the kind of fighter you’d cross the cage just to avoid. As he heads into his main event fight against Rich Franklin at UFC 147 this Saturday, let’s take a moment to remember the Axe Murderer the way he should be remembered. Our favorite GIFs of Wandy tearing people apart and acting like a psycho begin after the jump…
Wanderlei Silva is a wrecking machine, a block of pure muscle and aggression. He’s spent the better part of the last 15 years separating the world’s toughest men from consciousness, whether in a Brazilian night club, the legendary Pride ring or the hal…
Wanderlei Silva is a wrecking machine, a block of pure muscle and aggression. He’s spent the better part of the last 15 years separating the world’s toughest men from consciousness, whether in a Brazilian night club, the legendary Pride ring or the hallowed UFC Octagon.
The venue seems, frankly, irrelevant. Wanderlei Silva would fight you in front of 50,000 people, but he’d be just as happy throwing down on the subway, your mom’s 50th birthday party or smack dab in the middle of the matinee showing of Rock of Ages.
In a sport filled to the brim with violent and scary men, Silva is the scariest. He has an aura of violence. He doesn’t just commit unspeakably monstrous acts in the ring—he exudes malice. When you fight Wanderlei Silva, you face more than a man. You go nose-to-nose with a legend.
Here are ten reasons why he’s entered the exulted stratosphere of legend.
Fabricio “Vai 
