Do you have June 23 circled on your calender? If so, it might be time to start searching for a bottle of Wite-Out.That’s because the highly anticipated rematch between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and outspoken contender Chael Sonnen may have t…
Do you have June 23 circled on your calender? If so, it might be time to start searching for a bottle of Wite-Out.
That’s because the highly anticipated rematch between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and outspoken contender Chael Sonnen may have to be rescheduled.
You’re probably wondering what could possibly take precedence over a fight of this magnitude. If you guessed “soccer match,” you are incorrect.
The correct answer is a United Nations Conference.
The problem is, they don’t like the idea of us coming the same time this United Nations convention is going on. The other problem is hotel rooms. Most of the hotel rooms are being taken up. And we don’t think, we know that the Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen fight is one of the biggest sporting events this year, in the world.
The UN summit, which is being held to discuss sustainable development, is penciled in for a three-day duration, running from June 20 to June 22. Notably, UFC 147 is tentatively scheduled for the following day.
So what’s the problem?
Well, in addition to the hotel occupancy overlap, the UFC was hoping to make this event a real show. The promotion was planning to take over Rio de Janeiro for the entire weekend, and the pre-fight pressers and weigh-ins were supposed to be a big part of the invasion.
Says Dana White:
I think it’s a huge sporting event. I think people will come to Rio from all over the world. I think we’re going to need hotel rooms. Hopefully we’ll get this thing done the next few days, one way or the other.
The hopes of turning Rio into a three-day UFC party took a hit with this announcement and leaves the company with two options. The event can be rebooked, or a “the show must go on” approach can be adopted.
As White says, it shouldn’t be too long before this mess is all sorted out.
(U.N.’s revenge: Anderson Silva knew he shouldn’t have cozied up to John Bolton so publicly back in the late nineties)
Just over two months away from when it was supposed to happen, the year’s most anticipated MMA bout does not yet have a time and place locked in stone, according to UFC President Dana White. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and #1 contender Chael Sonnen were supposed to square off in a rematch of their 2010 thriller at UFC 147 in Rio de Janiero on June 23rd but at Saturday’s post UFC in Sweden event press conference White revealed that a conference of the United Nations scheduled in Rio the same week may force the fight promotion to move their event.
“The problem down in Rio right now is they’re having a big United Nations convention down there, so there’s some stuff going on. We’re working through it trying to figure this whole thing out,” White said to the assembled media.
The U.N. conference was announced after the UFC first announced their intentions to hold an event in Rio on June 23rd, and will draw tens of thousands of visitors to the city, in addition to heads of state. White says that he’s essentially being told that Rio ain’t big enough for the both of the UFC and U.N.
(U.N.’s revenge: Anderson Silva knew he shouldn’t have cozied up to John Bolton so publicly back in the late nineties)
Just over two months away from when it was supposed to happen, the year’s most anticipated MMA bout does not yet have a time and place locked in stone, according to UFC President Dana White. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and #1 contender Chael Sonnen were supposed to square off in a rematch of their 2010 thriller at UFC 147 in Rio de Janiero on June 23rd but at Saturday’s post UFC in Sweden event press conference White revealed that a conference of the United Nations scheduled in Rio the same week may force the fight promotion to move their event.
“The problem down in Rio right now is they’re having a big United Nations convention down there, so there’s some stuff going on. We’re working through it trying to figure this whole thing out,” White said to the assembled media.
The U.N. conference was announced after the UFC first announced their intentions to hold an event in Rio on June 23rd, and will draw tens of thousands of visitors to the city, in addition to heads of state. White says that he’s essentially being told that Rio ain’t big enough for the both of the UFC and U.N.
“We know that the Chael Sonnen-Anderson Silva fight [is] one of the biggest sporting events this year in the world, so we need to make sure ( that there will be room) especially when you’re doing an 80,000-seat soccer stadium. There better be some hotel rooms,” White said.
“We’re waiting to hear back,” he continued. “We’re trying to figure this whole thing out. The problem is that first of all they don’t like the idea of us coming at the same time as this United Nations convention is going on. The other problem is hotel rooms. Most of the hotel rooms are being taken up.”
White says that he had hoped to have the situation resolved before this weekend but that he expects that the UFC will “get this thing done within the next few days, one way or the other.”
Chael Sonnen’s act has obviously grown thin on UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and his manager Ed Soares.At was once considered as offensive and cruel, Soares is now under the impression that whatever Sonnen says is to simply sell his upcoming…
Chael Sonnen’s act has obviously grown thin on UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and his manager Ed Soares.
At was once considered as offensive and cruel, Soares is now under the impression that whatever Sonnen says is to simply sell his upcoming rematch against Silva at UFC 147.
And Soares hopes Brazilian fans get that idea too.
Soares sent out a message to Brazilian fans earlier this week, pleading with them to avoid any confrontation with the American prior to his bout with the champion and allow “The Spider” to beat him.
“Hopefully people will understand that they shouldn’t do anything against Chael, just boo him. Let Anderson settle this with him in the Octagon,” Soares told Portaldovaletudo.uol.com. “It will be very bad for Brazil if something happens to him. The guy is an idiot, but he is promoting the fight and it will be the greatest MMA fight of all time.”
Sonnen’s antics and remarks have infuriated many Brazilian fighters and fans, to the point where fans had setup a Facebook page and had threatened to harm the UFC middleweight contender.
Due to Soares’ advice, Sonnen isn’t likely to be in any real danger come June 23rd as fans aren’t that naive to take his trash-talk seriously.
If anything, Sonnen will be greeted by a chorus of jeers from the Brazilian crowd regardless of the outcome.
Chael Sonnen is the funniest man in mixed martial arts. His interviews are classics, his banter is second to none and he’s set to conquer the New York Times Bestseller’s List. He’s even funny in 140 characters or less. I’m not just talking it—I’l…
Chael Sonnen is the funniest man in mixed martial arts. His interviews are classics, his banter is second to none and he’s set to conquer the New York Times Bestseller’s List.
He’s even funny in 140 characters or less. I’m not just talking it—I’ll show you how Chael walks it, with his 10 funniest, meanest, most truth-to-power tweets.
The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil is generating a good bit of buzz at this time in both Brazil and the United States.I recently talked about the importance this season of TUF holds for the coaches on FX’s The Ultimate Fighter: Live and what it could do for …
The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil is generating a good bit of buzz at this time in both Brazil and the United States.
I recently talked about the importance this season of TUF holds for the coaches on FX’s The Ultimate Fighter: Live and what it could do for them in terms of making them top UFC stars.
The coaches of TUF Brazil, though, are a very different story.
While TUF Live is building up into a title fight featuring a top-ten (possibly top-five) pound-for-pound fighter in Dominick Cruz and a mainstream sensation in Urijah Faber, TUF Brazil is working its way to a showdown between aging middleweights.
While my article on Cruz vs. Faber talked about how much these two young, powerful fighters have to gain from their time on the reality show, TUF Brazil is the exact opposite—with a coaches fight that highlights how much either has to lose.
These coaches are Wanderlei Silva and Vitor Belfort.
Both of them are Pride alumni.
Both of them have many vicious knockouts to their name.
Most importantly, both of them are still reeling after brutal losses in 2011.
Wanderlei Silva was among the best fighters in Pride (only Fedor Emelianenko edges him out).
After leaving the UFC in 2000 after a loss to Tito Ortiz, Silva went on one of the greatest streaks in MMA history, going 16-0-1, 1 NC and getting wins over all-time greats like Dan Henderson (once), Quinton Jackson (twice) and Kazushi Sakuraba (three times).
His final fights in Pride were back-to-back losses to Dan Henderson and Mirko Cro Cop, and after Pride was folded into the UFC, he continued this trend with a loss to Chuck Liddell.
Since then, he has been back and forth, beating Keith Jardine and winning his middleweight debut against Michael Bisping. Shuffled between those though, are losses to Quinton Jackson and Rich Franklin.
More recently, however, Silva suffered a bad knockout loss at the hands of Chris Leben. Dana White began making less-than-subtle nudges in the direction of retirement, as seen with Cro Cop and Liddell.
This has not worked…yet.
While he followed this loss by beating former Strikeforce middleweight champion Cung Le, the possibility of a forced ending to his career still hangs over his head.
He remains one loss away from retirement and he undoubtedly knows that as he is facing knockout artist Vitor Belfort.
While Belfort is widely regarded as a top-five middleweight, that is not what people know him for.
The only highlight that the average fan remembers from Belfort’s current UFC stint is the clean knockout that came from Anderson Silva.
While he has two wins (a KO and submission) separating him from this, the kick knocked him as far away from a title shot as it did from his senses.
While Belfort’s career is not in jeopardy in this fight, this remains an absolute must-win for him.
Even though Belfort is possibly the most deserving next opponent for Anderson Silva (assuming he beats Chael Sonnen), he is very unlikely to get it.
If he loses though, Belfort will be separated from a title shot for years, regardless of who happens to be the champion at that time.
Both of these fighters need this win in order to hold their ground; Silva to keep his job and Belfort to keep his spot near the top of the division.
They fought once before—all the way back in 1998 at UFC Brazil—with Belfort winning with his signature run-forward-and-throw-punches technique.
Unfortunately for Silva, there is little reason to believe that this fight will be any different.
Silva’s chin is not especially strong at this point by any means and Belfort, as stated, is a knockout artist.
One of the best knockout artists in the UFC in fact and, as such, it is tough to see Belfort losing.
Silva is slower than he was and though he still has veteran savvy and is no stranger to knockouts himself, it would be somewhat surprising if this lasted more than one round until Belfort lands a hand and capitalizes.
Following their coaching stints on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva will fight at UFC 147, and in so doing renew a rivalry that first began more than a decade ago.Fans have anticipated this rematch since 1998, when B…
Following their coaching stints on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil, Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva will fight at UFC 147, and in so doing renew a rivalry that first began more than a decade ago.
Fans have anticipated this rematch since 1998, when Belfort knocked Wandy out at UFC Brazil. Fueling that fire is the fact that Silva and Belfort have been confrontational with each other in the past.
Belfort told FightersOnly.com recently that he holds no personal animosity toward “The Axe Murderer,” and that any ill will is strictly business-related.
“Wanderlei is a high-profile adversary, one of the great names of (Brazil),” Belfort said in the interview. “Yeah, I have got a rivalry with him, but it’s only sporting. I don’t feel angry at him or have anything against him.”
But at the same time, the rivalry appears to be at least somewhat genuine. Silva recently made remarks toward Belfort and his coaching methods on the show, but “The Phenom” said he won’t respond and prefers to wait until their matchup to do his talking.
“The thing with Wanderlei is that he wants to destabilize me mentally. He cannot judge me,” he said. “The important thing is to wait and see the result—when we fight, I will run over him and show what a true competitor is.”
The rivalry is only seeming to intensify between Belfort and Silva, and the months of trash talk and preparation will soon culminate in one of the anticipated bouts of the year. Their rematch is expected to co-headline UFC 147, which will feature a middleweight title bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen.
Do you have June 23 circled on your calender? If so, it might be time to start searching for a bottle of Wite-Out.