Heading into UFC 134 this weekend, an interesting promo has aired featuring Anderson Silva in anticipation of his title bout against Yushin Okami. The unique presentation shows some Silva’s most memorable fights, while a voice over provides a defi…
Heading into UFC 134 this weekend, an interesting promo has aired featuring Anderson Silva in anticipation of his title bout against Yushin Okami.
The unique presentation shows some Silva’s most memorable fights, while a voice over provides a definition for the fighter, labelling him as a “Brazilian Wandering Spider.”
The creative approach certainly is a great way to market Silva’s upcoming fight, and at the same time, building a mystique surrounding him as a fighter.
UFC 134 is live this weekend, from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
UFC 134 Betting Odds are back with our host, Steve Cofield from Cagewriter.com and ESPN along with our MMA expert analysts, Damon Martin of MMAWeekly.com and Larry Pepe of ProMMARadio.com. Check out who’s betting who.
UFC 134 Betting Odds are back with our host, Steve Cofield from Cagewriter.com and ESPN along with our MMA expert analysts, Damon Martin of MMAWeekly.com and Larry Pepe of ProMMARadio.com. Check out who’s betting who on the lines of the top three fights on the main card then check our Odds Side Bar to the top right of our page for a breakdown of the lines from the major online sports books and place your bets!
UFC 134 will be live Saturday night from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. . With the event being held in Rio, it will be a homecoming for many Brazilian fighters on the card. The card features former champions Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Forrest Griffin, …
UFC 134 will be live Saturday night from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. .
With the event being held in Rio, it will be a homecoming for many Brazilian fighters on the card.
The card features former champions Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Forrest Griffin, and Antonio “Rodrigo” Nogueira, as well as up-and-comers Ross Pearson, Edson Barboza, and Brendan Schaub.
The main event will feature the highly anticipated rematch between UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and Japan’s Yushin Okami.
UFC 134 will have many fireworks and is sure to be a talked about card. Here are some reasons why you can’t miss this one.
Since the sport’s beginning, Brazil has produced some of the most successful mixed martial artists in the world. However, the world’s largest MMA promotion hasn’t made its way to the South American country since October 1998.This Saturday, the UFC will…
Since the sport’s beginning, Brazil has produced some of the most successful mixed martial artists in the world. However, the world’s largest MMA promotion hasn’t made its way to the South American country since October 1998.
This Saturday, the UFC will return to Brazil for the first time in nearly 13 years for UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro. The main card will feature a number of Brazilian stars, such as Shogun Rua, who will rematch Forrest Griffin, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira collides with Brendan Schaub.
The main event will showcase a middleweight title fight between the greatest Brazilian fighter of all time, Anderson Silva, and Yushin Okami.
This article will provide previews for every bout on the fight card. After each fight, check back here for live results and an analysis of every matchup.
Live results will begin at approximately 6 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 27th.
After some recent controversy, all signs pointed to UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen being in Yushin Okami’s corner when he had his title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 134. However, it looks like Sonnen’s plane ticket to Rio will go to wa…
The source, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that if Sonnen attended, the Praetorian would discontinue its sponsorship of Okami.
“There’s a line of people that want to kick his ass,” the source said, when explaining the rationalization behind the decision.
While that piece of news is not all that shocking, many will agree that the next piece of information is.
According to MMA Junkie, friends of Sonnen over in Brazil brought the Team Quest standout’s attention to a local media report.
“A police chief threatened to arrest him on sight if he showed. The official cited a law that makes disparaging the national identity a crime,” MMA Junkie reported.
Sonnen retaliated by saying “You don’t have freedom of speech in Brazil; put it like that.”
Brazil based MMA manager Alex Davis refuted the police chief’s claim, stating that:
“Brazilian authorities would not arrest Sonnen for anything he said. They would defend him. But he is talking about people that a whole generation of fighters worship.”
Sonnen has reserved his verbal war of words against Brazilian fighters, for the most part, to team Black House members including Lyoto Machida, the Nogueira brothers, featherweight champ Jose Aldo and of course reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
Despite not being able to support his friend and training partner in person, Sonnen has shown no problem backing away from the situation given the circumstances.
“I only want to be there to help him,” Sonnen said.
“I don’t need to see the show. I can watch the show on TV. I was going exclusively in support of Yushin, and frankly, it’s been headed this way for a long time. It’s been headed the direction of, ‘Hey, this is becoming a distraction.”
Sonnen then acknowledged that August 27 is Okami’s time to shine, not his.
“This fight isn’t about me. I’m not involved. I’m here to lend you support. But I don’t want things thrown at what will unintentionally be him while he’s in the ring or we’re going to the ring. This is serious business. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s not my place to disturb it or shift any type of attention to me. This is his moment, his night, his time to be the world champ.”
The only man who has given Anderson Silva a run for his money in years, Sonnen has a chance to earn another title shot with a win over Brian Stann at UFC 136.
However, a recent report indicates that Sonnen could be pulled from UFC 136 in favor of a rematch with Silva on November 12, the UFC’s first event on Fox.
So maybe “dick-tucked” was an over-simplification. Yes, Chael Sonnen will be staying home this weekend, despite his original plan to corner Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Rio. But his reasons for backing out of the trip are a little more complicated than the fear of a Brazilian lynch mob. MMAJunkie has the details:
A source with knowledge of the situation told MMAjunkie.com that Praetorian, a Brazil-based MMA brand, threatened to pull [Okami]’s sponsorship if Sonnen attended.
“There’s a line of people that want to kick his ass,” the source said.
And that could be the least of problems for the expert trash-talker. Sonnen said friends in the country forwarded him a local-media report in which a police chief threatened to arrest him on sight if he showed. The official cited a law that makes disparaging the national identity a crime.
(Step one of their ferocious secret-handshake.)
So maybe “dick-tucked” was an over-simplification. Yes, Chael Sonnen will be staying home this weekend, despite his original plan to corner Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Rio. But his reasons for backing out of the trip are a little more complicated than the fear of a Brazilian lynch mob. MMAJunkie has the details:
A source with knowledge of the situation told MMAjunkie.com that Praetorian, a Brazil-based MMA brand, threatened to pull [Okami]‘s sponsorship if Sonnen attended.
“There’s a line of people that want to kick his ass,” the source said.
And that could be the least of problems for the expert trash-talker. Sonnen said friends in the country forwarded him a local-media report in which a police chief threatened to arrest him on sight if he showed. The official cited a law that makes disparaging the national identity a crime.
“You don’t have freedom of speech in Brazil; put it like that,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com after a workout at Team Quest Tualatin…
Brazil-based MMA manager Alex Davis said Sonnen’s words have united Brazil’s MMA community.
“Brazilians don’t get together on other things, but they’ve gotten together on this,” he said. “Brazilian authorities would not arrest Sonnen for anything he said. They would defend him. But he is talking about people that a whole generation of fighters worship.”
“I only want to be there to help him,” Sonnen said. “I don’t need to see the show. I can watch the show on TV. I was going exclusively in support of Yushin, and frankly, it’s been headed this way for a long time. It’s been headed the direction of, ‘Hey, this is becoming a distraction.’
“This fight isn’t about me. I’m not involved. I’m here to lend you support. But I don’t want things thrown at what will unintentionally be him while he’s in the ring or we’re going to the ring.
“This is serious business. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s not my place to disturb it or shift any type of attention to me. This is his moment, his night, his time to be the world champ.”
At this point, Okami’s association with Chael Sonnen will guarantee at least a couple plastic-cups full of Brahma thrown at him during the walkout. Not the most popular fighter to begin with, Okami will be greeted with a deafening wave of boos before his fight against the national hero. In fact, the UFC 134 main event might even surpass GSP vs. Jake Shields in terms of hatred-potential.
But no matter what transpires in the fight, the absence of Chael Sonnen will significantly reduce the odds of a riot. And that’s a good thing considering that the UFC is already looking at a Brazilian stadium show in 2012.
