News flash, Anderson Silva is so good he can go for a run, have a conversation with his opponent, participate in a little dance number, and play percussion on the octagon mat; all while successfully defending his UFC middleweight championship belt. He can also do all this in just under 25 minutes. Isn't that spectacular? That would be like Roger Federer serving up a shot and then moonwalking across the court only to return his opponents counter shot for a point. Or imagine Tiger Woods following one of his putts with the infamous worm maneuver to the hole. Wouldn't that be exciting? Well not if you're me, or you, or Damien Maia, or Dana White. Fans don't pay to watch athletes act like jackasses. I enjoy an entertaining celebration or some tasteful sportsmanship during a game or fight as much as the next guy, but excessively taunting your opponent to the point where fans are left wondering if they're watching a fight or a crunk battle, is teetering on the point of douchebaggery. Don't get me wrong, I love most of what Anderson Silva does. I love watching him fight. I love watching his Michael Jackson like entrances as displayed in the video below. But I do not like the way he acted in his last fight. I think it was disrespectful and tasteless. I just wish he would leave his dancing for before and after the fight. Because that is when it is awesome and entertaining.
What boggles me is that Anderson Silva is not being paid by the hour or the round for that matter, so why wouldn't he want to finish his work day as soon as possible? My guess is as good as yours, actually I take that back, my guess is better than yours because my guess is the only logical reason as to why Anderson would act like this. My guess is that Anderson is bored, he has repeatedly made attempts to call out fights that would be much more challenging than your local 185 contender. Heck he even called out Roy Jones Jr. to a boxing match. He has suggested a desire to fight Brock Lesnar. So if this is what he is asking for, why is Dana ignoring him? Why is Dana so intent on lining up the entire UFC freshman line to fight Silva? Dana has a role in Anderson's display of apathetic behaviour. He is trying to manipulate a career that doesn't need to be manipulated. He is trying to hype a fighter who's hype has already soared through the clouds. It is this lack of intelligence possessed by the UFC president that has created this predicament. After all Mr. White's roots aren't exactly MMA. He's a former boxercise instructor who then went on to be a small time boxing promoter. If anybody knows how to build a record it's Dana himself. Boxers usually fight about 30-40 jabronies before they face their first strong test. So Dana comes out publicly playing the embarrassed president card. "I'm humiliated" "I didn't even want to put the belt on him" "I left halfway through the 4th round" "If he does this again I will cut him" "This is anything but my fault". Get real, there is good reason to not allow a boxing fight between Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr, but what is stopping him from allowing him to fight at 205 or even heavyweight? There are more than enough challenges out there to keep Anderson busy.
So Dana has the ultimate punishment in mind. Chael Sonnen. Let the UFC hyperbole begin. The funny thing is, Chael Sonnen definitely has the tools to beat Anderson Silva with strong wrestling performance. But will anybody care? Will anybody realistically rank Sonnen above Silva in any rankings? Will people fantasize about match ups between Sonnen and Fedor or Lesnar? Give me a break. This is just another attempt at having another good old American champ. If Dana really wanted to test Silva, he would have had him fight Shogun following his fight with Machida. Or have him fight the winner of Rampage/Rashad. Or let him fight one of the big daddy heavyweights like Cain Velazquez or Mirko Crocop.
Instead of lip drooling possibilities like that, we are fed another match that nobody really cares to see. Sure fans will rally around Sonnen because they just want to see Anderson get his head pounded in, but what will it prove? I mean Sonnen has already lost a few times in the UFC and once to the guy that got Anderson in this mess.
So really the only people being punished are the fans...again. Instead of getting some fantasy match ups for Silva, Dana White is going to hype up Chael Sonnen as the ultimate contender for Silva. He'll hype him up as a guy who will not let Anderson Silva dance around the octagon, who won't tolerate such antics, who won't be afraid to run across the octagon and double leg takedown Silva to his demise. Sure Dana, I believe all of that just like I believe that you are thrilled to have two Brazilians, one with little english and one with none at all, holding UFC titles. I could get into those politics, but this blog would never end.
The fact of the matter is, Chael Sonnen, which many may or may not know, has already been on the opposing side of a fighter displaying peculiar antics in the cage, and the fight went down as one of the most boring fights in MMA history. I kid you not. Chael Sonnen rematched Paulo Filho, and Filho had a mental breakdown during the fight. He was talking to imaginary characters, looking to the side as if somebody was next to him was asking him questions, and just outright talking to himself. All of which held Chael Sonnen hesitant as he coasted to a very boring unanimous decision. So how this guy is going to be god's gift to the fans displeased with Silva is beyond me. He couldn't even finish a fighter who was possessed by a character from One Flew Over The Cookoo's Nest.
If you ask me, this is punishment alright. Only not the type of punishment Dana is promoting. It's punishing Silva in the fact that Silva once again has his desire to fight a real challenger pushed to the side once again by the UFC. And we, the fan, get punished by having to sit through this. Mark my words, this fight has as much of an opportunity of being an exciting fight as I have of landing a flying scissor kick on Anderson Silva.
Once again at the end of the day, the fans will be unsatisfied and Dana will be left looking like a fool with his pants on the ground.
Posts
