Wanderlei Silva delivered on his promise to UFC fans at UFC 132. Wanderlei promised a brawl and for 0:27, he gave them one. Silva is being rewarded for this great fight with the possibility of losing his job.
“People love him so much because of the way he fights and his style and the type of person he is,” Dana White said. “But yeah, (it’s) probably the end of the road for Wanderlei.”
Dana White always complains when UFC fighters give fans boring fights. Yet one of the few UFC fighters who promised and delivered an exciting fight is facing the prospect of losing his job for it. Wanderlei Silva promised the UFC fans that he would give them a brawl, he did, and 0:28 later is on the verge of being cut. Wanderlei deserves more, especially at least one more fight before the UFC terminates his contract.
Here is the deal. It isn’t as if Silva was dropped in 0:27 by a mediocre striker. This is Chris Leben! Leben has arguably the heaviest hands in the entire division. 14 of his 26 wins have come by knockout or TKO. I could see if Silva was knocked out by someone like Demian Maia in 0:27 but he was dropped by a guy who has won over 50% of his fights with his fists. I don’t know of many fighters who could survive a brawl with Chris Leben without being knocked out.
Silva also campaigned for this fight. Why? Because he wanted to pick an opponent that he could have an exciting fight with for the UFC fans. Silva’s last two fights were against guys who weren’t known for their knockout power and both fights went the distance. Neither guy wanted to stand up with Silva which made both dull fights for the most part. Knowing the prospect of winning a slugfest is 50/50, Silva wanted one anyway to give back to the MMA fans.
Not only did Silva want a slugfest, he handpicked arguably the heaviest hitter in the division. Silva turned down several fights to the displeasure of the UFC in order to get the fight against Leben. Wanderlei even used Twitter to campaign for a fight with Leben knowing full well that it would be a standup war.
Silva tweeted, “I think with chris Leben I go have a tuff figth him is good opponent,he want and I want lets go figth(t)“.
Could you imagine if Wanderlei did not engage with Leben after publicly campaigning so heavily for this fight?
This is also not the same as Chuck Liddell who got rocked two fights in a row. Silva has gone the distance in his two fights prior to fighting Leben. Granted he does have three knockout losses in five years, but none came as quickly as the loss to Leben. Wanderlei can still fight, he just doesn’t have the reflexes to stand there and slug it out with heavy strikers.
I think the UFC either owes him one more fight or moves him to Strikeforce. Cutting a legend like Wanderlei outright after losing in these circumstances just isn’t fair. Silva gets knocked out again in under a minute and I am right there with the UFC on their decision o cut him. Until then, give him one more fight. The fans deserve it and more importantly, he deserves it.
How does Wanderlei feel about this?
“I cried, I felt ashamed of you, I thought a lot of crap, but now only think of one thing: Revenge boss”
I love that guy!
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