http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news?slug=ki-silva072610 Anderson Silva is headlining yet another Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view card on Aug. 7, which should send shudders up and down the spines of those responsible for paying a cable or satellite bill. In a terrible economy with a poor recent track record in terms of producing exciting fights, Silva is going to struggle to gain forgiveness from the fans he’s burned so often in the last 22 months or so. He’ll also fight Chael Sonnen with the pressure of knowing that his boss vowed to cut him if he fails to perform or, more significantly, if he repeats his performance from UFC 112. The UFC’s uber-talented middleweight champion hasn’t been a hit in the last three pay-per-view cards he’s headlined. Yes, he scored a first-round knockout of Forrest Griffin in a light heavyweight bout at UFC 101 in Philadelphia last year, but that was the semi-main event. Silva is the UFC’s version of Mike Tyson, a knockout artist unparalleled in the sport’s history. He’s 11-0 in the UFC, holding the company record for the most consecutive wins. He’s also 7-0 in title matches (including his 2006 title-winning effort over Rich Franklin), holding the UFC record for the most championship victories. He was so dominant that not long after he won the belt at UFC 64, UFC president Dana White began calling him the most talented fighter in the world. Silva, though, has rarely shown killer instinct in the last two years. Even his win over Griffin wasn’t devastating, though that wasn’t his fault. He hit Griffin with a jab while moving backward and stopped him. More telling is how cautiously he fought in wins over Patrick Cote at UFC 90 in Chicago on Oct. 25, 2008, and over Thales Leites on April 18, 2009, at UFC 97 in Montreal. On April 10 at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on what was a huge night for White and UFC co-owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, Silva opted to fool around in a win over Demian Maia, causing a seething White to threaten to cut him. On Aug. 7, Silva is back, and again asking for your $44.95, when he headlines UFC 117 in Oakland, Calif., at Oracle Arena with a title defense against Sonnen, the trash-talking No. 1 contender. Following UFC 90, which featured little action in the first two rounds before Cote had to withdraw after a third-round knee injury, White came to the post-fight news conference and said, “I was sitting there saying, ‘What the [expletive] is going on?’ †He also said, “I was sitting there going, ‘No, this isn’t happening,’ †and, “If you don’t know him and you showed up for the first time, you’d [think] that guy was goofing around. He was acting arrogant and cocky and trying to play with [Cote] like he was a little kid.†It was more of the same at UFC 97, when Silva declined to follow Leites, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, to the mat and turn a fight into a grappling match, leading to a dull five-round fight. Silva didn’t understand why he was being criticized and said, “Everything I trained to do, I did.†If that was the case, though, it didn’t please White, who was apologetic following the bout. “I apologize,†White said at the post-fight news conference that night. “I personally apologize for what happened tonight. You guys know this isn’t what the UFC was built on and this isn’t the way the fights usually go.†But Silva’s performances at UFC 90 and UFC 97 were just kind of a cruel warm-up act to the comedy skit that went on during his title defense against Maia, the first UFC card in the Middle East and the first with the White and Fertitta’s new partners, Abu Dhabi-based Flash Entertainment, in place. It was clear two or so minutes into the fight that Silva was exceptionally more talented than Maia. He was out-striking Maia in the first, mostly with a jab, and broke Maia’s nose with a flying knee in the second. However, he was prancing around the ring, talking incessantly to Maia. At one stage, he ducked behind massive referee “Big†Dan Miragliotta. He shook his rear end, slapped the mat, made odd faces and mocked his countryman repeatedly. What he didn’t do was what he had done so well so often in the past: finish the fight. By the latter stages of the fourth round and throughout the fifth, the crowd was chanting Maia’s name. It respected the fact that even though Maia didn’t have half of Silva’s talent, he was clearly expending twice the effort as the champion. Maia gave the fans their money’s worth that night. Silva, clearly, did not. White nearly lost his composure in Abu Dhabi. He didn’t see the end of the fight, leaving ringside during the fourth round and handing the championship belt to Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, to present to Silva in the ring. When White showed up that night at the post-fight news conference, he was visibly angry, breathing loudly as he waited for the high sign from the video technicians before beginning. “I’ll answer the questions about what a disgrace the main event was and what an embarrassment it is,†White said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more embarrassed in 10 years of being in this business. It’s the first time I’ve ever walked out of a main event.†Had Silva fought against Cote, Leites and Maia like he had most of his UFC fights, when he destroyed quality fighters like Rich Franklin (twice), Dan Henderson and Nate Marquardt, among others, he’d probably be preparing for a superfight against welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. White, though, was outraged at the way Silva performed and didn’t see the need to reward him with a megafight. So instead, he’s defending his 185-pound title again, this time against Sonnen, who for the last seven months has unloaded a verbal assault on the champion in the clear hope of building his name and attracting interest in the fight. Sonnen is a former collegiate wrestling star who upset Marquardt at UFC 109 in February to earn the title shot. He vowed to use his wrestling to defeat Silva next month, saying, “He’ll back on his back more than a [prostitute] with a mortgage.†Sonnen has given Silva plenty of motivation, though it’s hard to gauge the champion. He is uncomfortable speaking English in public and uses Soares to translate his Portuguese. Plus, if Silva weren’t motivated following the very public tongue-lashings White has given him, it’s difficult to understand what could motivate him to fight for a finish. The UFC under White has become the rare professional sport where winning simply isn’t enough. In White’s regime, it’s not solely that you win which counts; how you win counts equally as much. Silva has found himself on both sides of that equation during his four-year tenure in the UFC, which began with a stunningly quick and brutal 49-second knockout of Chris Leben on an Ultimate Fight Night card in Las Vegas on June 28, 2006. He’s had the highlight-reel finishes that made him an international phenomenon and the boo-inducing bouts that have drawn White’s ire. White prefers the flashy knockout, the highlight-reel finish over the conservative but fight-winning approach every time. That approach is what has helped the UFC to become a global phenomenon and surpass boxing in terms of overall popularity, but it also rankles many purists who despise White’s intervention into an area they believe he doesn’t belong. Clearly, White girded for a potential fan backlash against Silva by putting together a stronger-than-average card. Included on the card is a fight between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves for the right to become the No. 1 welterweight contender, as well as a significant and intriguing heavyweight match between slugger Junior dos Santos and bad-body tough guy Roy Nelson. The winner of that bout could wind up fighting the Brock Lesnar-Cain Velasquez winner for the belt sometime in 2011. The pressure is going to be on Silva to get rid of Sonnen, who has been submitted six times and stopped twice among his 10 losses. If Silva doesn’t finish the fight but wins and makes a clear effort toward doing so, he’ll move forward with no issues. But if there is a repeat, the pressure will shift from Silva to White. White vowed after UFC 112 to cut Silva should he fight as he did that night ever again. If Silva prances his way to an unsatisfying win, the burden will shift to White to back up his tough talk and ax the man he’s touted for years as the best fighter in the world. That would be far more interesting to watch than any of Silva’s last three title defenses have been.
I dunno, this raises a question: should Dana White be threatening to cut Anderson if Anderson does just enough to win?
REED has NO Problems w/Anything Written EXCEPT for the Following: Silva, though, has rarely shown killer instinct in the last two years. Even his win over Griffin wasn’t devastating, though that wasn’t his fault. He hit Griffin with a jab while moving backward and stopped him. It was a "Devastating" Win in REED's Opinion...No One's Ever EMBARRASSED Forrest to the Degree that Silva Did... REED:hammert:
Say what U Will about Dana White, but a Fighters' PERFORMANCE is Something Dana's Harped On from Day 1...It's why he has Bonuses & Whatnot... REED Thinks Dana's BLUFFING when he Threatens to Cut Silva from the Roster, but he's WELL within his Rights to DEMAND MORE from Silva... REED:hammert:
I wasn't happy with the Maia fight or the Cote fight either, but who the fuck am I to demand a guy fight out of his comfort zone to please me? So what if he didn't want to stand and trade with a heavy handed Cote, or go to the ground with Leitas or Maia, nobody has a right to demand he fight differently to please the fans. It's ridiculous. The one thing I do not think was right was how he treated Maia when they fought, the clowning was an embarassment to the sport and to Maia. He should definitelty never do that again, but asking him to change the way he fights certain guys is very unrealistic.
Dana can't demand shit from Silva if he keeps feeding him bottom-of-the-barrel opponents. Give him a fight with Rampage or Shogun, make him go up in weight. Don't pit him against Chael Sonen FFS.
Dana criticizes fighters like a guy who never has fought. As to the article, Anderson is not the sport's 'Mike Tyson.' That's just stupid. He's more like its Ricardo Lopez or Wlad Klitschko. Dominant, extremely talented, but prone to being safety first. The Mike Tyson of mma is that black euro (french?) guy who just got ko'd a couple of months ago on showtime. That guy is an exciting, ko machine.
Nobody is praying harder for Silva to blow Sonnen out than Dana White. If Silva fights safe, wins a decision, and/or showboats, White is faced with going back on his promise. There is no way he let's Silva go. Silva would be Strikeforce's wet dream and Dana knows it.
Melvin Manhoef, the guy's awesome, he just had another cracker at the last Dream event, he's the Tyson of MMA withouth the chin thought <object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/GlqBS0XgLjw&hl=fr_FR&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/GlqBS0XgLjw&hl=fr_FR&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>
melvin's a pimp, i fucking love the guy. He'd rape anderson imo (he's not a better mmais, but styles makes fight)
WTF? Hasn't Melvin lost like 4 out his last 5 or something. Hell he couldn't beat Filho or Lawler yet he'd rape Silva? Melvin is a simple puzzle. Survey his early blitz and then take him out in the 2nd round. :doh::doh::doh:
yeah, silva fights a lot like filho, good point. Silva probably would try to stand up with melvin, and that would be his undoing. Manhoef is a better, more explosive, mpre proven striker. There still would be the chance that silva catch manhoef on his relatively brittle jaw, but i still like melvin to land first
Filho is just one of Melvin's 3 loses in the last year. Pick any of them. The bottom line is Melvin is a joke. He has serious early firepower and nothing beyond that. And my point is simple. Pick Filho, Lawler, Mizuno or even Mousasi if you want, but Silva is far more talented on his feet than ANNNNNY of those guys. If they can stand up to Melvin's early onslaught, Silva wouldn't bat an eyelash. I understand the love for Melvin because he is exciting when he throws those bombs. But don't make him out to be anything more than he is, which is an average MMA fighter. And if Silva wanted to, he'd take Melvin to the mat and twist him like a pretzel at will. Manhoef is one dimensional and has limited endurance in that ONE dimension.
Manhoef is a joke, you guys are out of your minds. The guy got blasted by Robbie fucking Lawler and you're saying he could beat Anderson Silva? Is this reality? Where am I?
Melvin's last fight was hilarious. He verbally tapped to punches, but the ref didnt hear him. You see Melvin yelling tap in his little girl voice.
