Dana White had difficulty putting the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen together. Two years in the making, it just seemed like the middleweight champion would never face the only man in the UFC to make him seem human for a second time.&nb…
Dana White had difficulty putting the rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen together. Two years in the making, it just seemed like the middleweight champion would never face the only man in the UFC to make him seem human for a second time.
However, to everyone’s surprise, Dana actually enjoys having to deal with Anderson Silva by every definition of the word.
“Let me tell you what’s always happened. Anderson is such a unique individual to deal with and you know, you’ve seen me. I’ve butted heads with this guy and that guy. We argue. It’s such a different process when I’m dealing with this guy and I respect him so much, it’s like dealing with an artist,” White told Bleacher Report after the UFC 148 post-fight press conference.
“It’s like dealing with an artist or some big crazy talented actor. That’s what it’s like. The guy is a fighter. The two times he went to 205, it wasn’t because he wanted to. It was because I asked him to.”
While some may take White’s comments about Silva being an artist as having other meanings, he truly respects the middleweight champion. After promoting the Brazilian for over six years, he still enjoys finding new and creative ways to build up his champion.
“It’s so complex and hard to explain, but I actually like doing it. I like being involved in every aspect of the business with this guy. I love to watch him fight. The anticipation and the buildup to watch this guy do what he does is seriously one of the favorite parts of my job. I love it.”
He left the media with some very surprising and kind words.
“This guy is my favorite fighter. He really is. And as hard as he is to deal with, I just love dealing with this guy.”
International Fight Week was one of the biggest spectacles I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. From the media workouts to all of the fan events, the UFC was able to put together one of the most interactive events in sports history. Da…
International Fight Week was one of the biggest spectacles I have ever had the pleasure of being a part of. From the media workouts to all of the fan events, the UFC was able to put together one of the most interactive events in sports history.
Dana White addressed not just the week, but also what it meant for the promotion to have such a great response from fans and media, who have been busting their tails trying to keep up with Zuffa PR.
“We broke every UFC record there was as far as our business goes. Brazil shut down tonight. We did things for this fight, it will come out on Fuel,” White told Bleacher Report after the post-fight press conference.
White has always been extremely busy at live events. He has to balance running the production with shaking hands and greeting every fan that asks for a photograph. But UFC 148 was on a whole different level. In an unprecedented move, the UFC went above and beyond their normal strategy to track coverage of the event.
“Fuel followed me around all night tonight, but you should see the social media war room that we put together tonight. We were pinpointing and tracking what people were talking about all over the world. What parts of the world were hot and which weren’t. This was one of the biggest sporting events of the year.”
Oh, and that International Fight Week? Turns out it was a huge success.
“The economic impact for Las Vegas, we don’t have all the numbers yet, but it’s somewhere between $93 and $140 million on a week where this town would have been dead.”
Expect for this to become a yearly event. I’ll make sure to mentally prepare for it weeks in advance.
Anderson Silva. Middleweight champion of the world. Greatest of all time. After finishing Chael Sonnen in the second round at UFC 148 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, it appears that he has once again cleared out the middleweight division. The list of co…
Anderson Silva. Middleweight champion of the world. Greatest of all time.
After finishing Chael Sonnen in the second round at UFC 148 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, it appears that he has once again cleared out the middleweight division.
The list of contenders is relatively weak. Mark Munoz has had trouble with other middleweights not on Silva’s plateau, Chris Weidman is still a young prospect growing into the fighter he will one day become and Michael Bisping has yet to return from his loss to Chael Sonnen.
Bisping seems the most logical choice, but would that even be competitive? Bisping is nowhere near the striker or wrestler he needs to be to compete with Silva.
That leaves a return to the light heavyweight division—and not to challenge for the title and have a so-called superfight with Jon Jones, but to provide the UFC with money fights between veterans who are not in the hunt.
And the one that jumps off the page is Rashad Evans vs. Anderson Silva.
Much has been made of Evans’ frame. Joe Rogan has commented on previous UFC broadcasts that he could make 185 lbs. That has never been a great idea to Evans, who has utilized his speed and athleticism to great heights at 205 lbs.
After suffering the defeat to Jon Jones earlier in 2012, he will be out of the light heavyweight title picture for quite some time. What is more important to Evans at this stage in his career: big money fights or making another run at the championship? Only he knows the answer to that.
A fight against Anderson Silva would be another highly marketable bout. And unlike Silva’s previous forays in to the division, Evans will have the speed, wrestling, power and athleticism to make it an interesting contest.
While the proposed superfights between Silva and Georges St-Pierre or Jones seem good on paper, they offer no redeeming value. Why make one of your champions suffer a defeat, and potentially a brutal one?
That just sounds bad for business—especially when there are other marketable stars to fill that hole if you want a superfight.
Rashad Evans fills that void.
Evans also brings his trash-talking to the table. He is able to sell a fight as good as anyone in the business. If he uses this against Silva, it will make for another premier battle the UFC could promote for a big show.
The fight makes sense.
Silva is done at middleweight and is 37 years old. It is time to let the new regime of talented youngsters take over, while he collects big paychecks for huge fights.
If a young fighter challenges for the belt and upsets him, it will make it seem as if Silva is old and past his prime. His value plummets then. Pitting him against another veteran headed for the UFC Hall of Fame doesn’t threaten his stock like that.
With the amount of cards the UFC puts on in a year now, it also helps spread out the talent. It frees up a championship that can headline a card while two big stars headline in another market.
And since Evans is not competing for a title shot any time soon and has all the tools in and out of the Octagon to sell the fight, he is at the top of the list.
Two dynamic athletes competing to simply find out who is better. No championships. No obvious physical disadvantages. They are evenly matched in those regards. It would be a legacy fight for either man.
Black House vs. Blackzilians. Silva vs. Evans. Sign me up.
At UFC 148, Anderson Silva may have gotten the victory over Chael Sonnen, but he failed to do a couple things in the process.In interviews preceding the fight, Silva was quoted as promising to “break all of his teeth, his arms, and his legs” and …
At UFC 148, Anderson Silva may have gotten the victory over Chael Sonnen, but he failed to do a couple things in the process.
In interviews preceding the fight, Silva was quoted as promising to “break all of his teeth, his arms, and his legs” and also vowed to “change the sport of MMA.”
He made all these claims, but we got the same old Anderson Silva: pulling victory from the grasp of defeat.
I might be nitpicking at the performance of the champion, but based on the claims he made and the fact that he spent more than 70 percent of the time on his back, he didn’t set out to what he really wanted to do.
He wanted to defeat Sonnen, sure, but he was in hot water for a bit as Sonnen wasn’t afraid of Silva dropping his fists.
He pushed the pace like he usually does and dominated the champion once again. Sonnen set out for what he wanted to do from the start of the fight, but once he missed that spinning back fist, he was in an extremely vulnerable position, curled on the ground against the fence.
The claims must have been in the back of Silva’s mind, as he started to destroy Sonnen’s face with a multitude of punches.
It would seem Silva came in fighting with emotion, something he never does and he had to take a round to settle.
If Silva wanted to prolong Sonnen’s agony, he would’ve reverted back to his days fighting Demian Maia, but there was no way Sonnen would let Silva breathe for a second.
Still, these guys going to war was something everyone was looking forward to and with all the hype and even hearing Silva trash-talk and make all these claims before the bout, you knew in the end Silva would show the same respect he does with all the other fighters.
Do you think Silva backed up his promises? Send your comments below.
Anderson Silva is a different kind of fighter. You hear it all the time, but occasionally it helps to be reminded.But even great fighters have weaknesses. We all knew what it was. His weakness is a powerful and relentless wrestler who does not allow Si…
Anderson Silva is a different kind of fighter. You hear it all the time, but occasionally it helps to be reminded.
But even great fighters have weaknesses. We all knew what it was. His weakness is a powerful and relentless wrestler who does not allow Silva to intimidate or captivate him with his pressure and movements in the cage. We all thought this was the style to beat Silva.
And then Silva destroyed Chael Sonnen.
Sonnen did well to secure a takedown in the opening seconds of the fight, but he would not succeed again. In the next round, he would attempt three different takedowns and all would fail.
After Sonnen was unable to bring the fight to his world, he was forced to fight on Silva’s terms. And not even Sonnen could avoid falling into Silva’s trap.
As best as I can describe it, Silva tripped Sonnen using his fight swagger and finished him with a lunging knee to the chest followed by powerful precision strikes.
And there went the last challenger. There’s actually, legitimately, no one left.
Mark Munoz’s ground-and-pound? Chris Weidman’s submission grappling? Silva has proven himself apt at avoiding damage and submissions in the last several years, and just tonight he has proven that neither fighter would be able to take him down.
Vitor Belfort? Silva would down him with a punch thrown from his waist and finish him on the ground. Michael Bisping? He’d be unable to connect with jabs and straights and would be countered and knocked senseless when he attempted to connect with something more forceful.
Perhaps Rashad Evans will drop down to middleweight and present some new problems for Silva. Or perhaps the gods of MMA will convince Silva or Georges St-Pierre to move up in weight and create one of the superfights that fans have been dying to see.
But as it stands right now, there is no one left in the middleweight division who can challenge Silva.
Anderson Silva’s dominating run continued at UFC 148, as he defeated Chael Sonnen by second-round TKO to defend his UFC middleweight championship at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.After a slow first round, Silva rocked Sonnen with a knee to t…
Anderson Silva‘s dominating run continued at UFC 148, as he defeated Chael Sonnen by second-round TKO to defend his UFC middleweight championship at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev.
After a slow first round, Silva rocked Sonnen with a knee to the body early in the second. Sonnen appeared to recover, but Silva attacked him again on the ground, raining down a series of vicious punches before the referee stopped the fight.
The victory is Silva’s 16th in a row dating back to 2006 and second over Sonnen during that span. He previously defeated the 35-year-old American two years ago in a thrilling bout that fueled interest in Saturday’s rematch.
Silva continues to amaze by fighting at such a high level for so long. By 37, most fighters are starting to break down from all the wear and tear of a long career, but Silva just continues to dominate, beating every challenger thrown his way.
It’s not like he’s beating up on no-name fighters, either. Forrest Griffin, Vitor Belfort and Sonnen are among his recent wins. He’s now held the middleweight title for nearly six years, asserting his dominance over the otherwise competitive division.
Now Silva just has to sit back and wait for a new top contender to emerge. He really has nothing left to prove to Sonnen or any of the other fighters he’s recently defeated, so hopefully a fresh face can step up and provide a true test for him.
On the flip side, it’s a disappointing result for Sonnen to say the least. He controlled a large portion of the first bout between the two but was forced to submit in the final round. He later failed a post-fight test due to high levels of testosterone (h/t Josh Gross, SI.com).
After returning from suspension he defeated Brian Stann and Michael Bisping to earn another chance at Silva. It was an opportunity for him to prove his terrific performance in the first fight wasn’t a fluke, but he couldn’t get the job done.
His career record still stands at an impressive 27-12-1 and he has been able to handle all of his mid-tier opponents. Whenever he attempts to step up to that next level, however, he hasn’t had what it takes to get over the hump.
While Sonnen heads back to the drawing board, Silva can celebrate another victory. He’ll lose the title eventually, it just didn’t happen on Saturday night.
And, judging by his performance, it might not happen any time soon.
