Dana White Appologizes For UFC 97 Main Event
Posted by Kris Karkoski on Apr 19, 2009 at 12:02 pm ET94 Comments
UFC President Dana White in a post-UFC 97 interview with Yahoo! Sports:
“I can honestly tell you that I’ve never put on an event that I was embarrassed to be at until tonight. I want to publicly apologize to all the fans. I apologize. 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. Listen, any night you can have an off-night. When a guy is that talented and can literally end a fight whenever he wants to, wow. We’ve got to do something. Watching that was hard. That was tough to take. It was embarrassing, honestly. It was really and truly embarrassing.”
Tags: Dana White
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dana must be super pissed for him to apologize.
Agreed. When he says “we’ve got to do something” though, it’s like “Well what can you do?” You can’t get in there yourself and make them fight. And who do you punish, Silva for not finishing the fight, or Leites for diving on the ground every chance he got, or both? I go with both, but it’s definitely a tough situation.
Dana white jams his foot in is mouth on a regular basis, but the man has passion for MMA. He knows fights like that will kill MMA. People like me aren’t going to continue paying $44.95 once a month to watch two guys avoid each other for 25 minutes.
It looked like “fight” where two guys do a lot of talking and chest bumping, but both are too scared to throw the first punch. There’s a term for guys like that, and champion ain’t it.
There should be a vote at the end of the fight where the audience can declare BOTH fighters losers and strip their money and titles. This would probably never happen, except in a Silva fight.
Since Dana apologized, I’ll continue tuning in and give him a chance to fix it. I think there needs to be a way for both fighters to lose.
Anderson went from being explosive to ” fizzy ” . I think this is partially due to the competition in the UFC middleweight division . Lots of names out there but none get to Silva while they are rolling along ….. its the waiting game until you fizzle and then he smokes them . If anderson was truly that great he wouldnt be doing **** like this .
Want to fix it? bring in the Card system they used in Pride. It won’t completely fix it but it will help a bit I think. Anytime you hurt someone in the wallet they pay better attention.
This fight was ridiculous. I am a casual fan and watch probably every other PPV or so. I’m so glad I only paid a cover charge at a bar to watch.
Fights like this will kill the UFC because the majority of the fans are casual like me. They don’t care about titles or the strategy of a fight, they just want entertainment. Seriously stupid. I feel sorry for the Canadians fans in the stadium who paid top dollar.
Anderson is only aggressive if the other guy is aggressive. Also the guy that is aggressive across the cage needs to be a decent striker. He is a smart fighter who saves his energy. He does what is necessary to win.
I watched the fight’s last night and was entertained. I spent my 44.00 and change to see Anderson Silva fight. What I saw was two guys in differnt leagues. Talus looked like a little school boy.
I would like to see Anderson fight Dana White, maybe he would shut his big mouth for awhile. That would be a goood fight in my opinion. I think Anderson needs to move up in weight again and fight a light heavy weight in his next match.
Anderson will be around for a short time now so lets get him some proper competition Mr White.
It was money well spent for me !!!!
At least 1 guy who watched the fights really. I dont care if they dont bang 100% of the time. I liked the fightnight and think there were a lot of entertaining fights and its good that they arent all the same and the titlefight was strategic. I mean Silva got a lot to lose, so everybody should understand why he doenst runs like a madman into his oponent. But I think the problem of the fight was that he simply was that much better … And all those “casual” fans who claim to watch all fights and now cry about it: f*** you. Those drunk, bloodthirsty kind of fans who only shout into the cameras can stay at home. Thats why pride was better, they dont stoped every groundfight like in the UFC (although the guys are working) and the audience wasnt that stupid. Hope UFC 99 will have a more educationed audience in Germany.
If you watch the PPV and listen to the Canadian crowd you will hear them reacting to the changes in position on the ground, guard, side control, submission attempts etc. More educated then your average drunken mma crowd.
To argue that the Canadians are mere blood thirsty poser mma fans is ridicules. The tickets sold out and ranged from $100 – 500. Nearly the entire crowd was English, IE traveled in from out of province. Serious mma fans showed up, and they expected more for there money and time. If a stadium of 21, 000 mma fans collectively decide a fight is crap, they are right. Hopefully this was the last time.
Who wants to see Tim Sylvia vs Arlovski again? I thought that crap was over.
is anderson silva becoming the next tim silvia? exciting until they get the title. then so borin once they lose they get ran out of the ufc
right… he’s had the title for awhile and his last two fights aren’t his best and now he’s tim sylvia? really?
wow, I’m suprised by some of the comments here, well um If Leites wasn’t going to fight Anderson what can Anderson do… If anyone who has be in a fight, when you know that your opponent is quick with the subs on the ground why would you go to ground, if it is clear that 1. he can’t take you down 2. he can’t keep you down 3. you have out worked him on the ground 4. you are the best standup fighter in the MW division (in the world)……
you guys I wanted to see Anderson destroy Leites as well, but stop being so fickle, look at the performance that Silva put on the moves that he showed, and to the “if Leites gets Silva on the ground its over” guy, eat crow…. Wow in 10 fights one of Anderson Silva’s has gone to a decision and he did that purley out of respect for the “what if ” factor in fighting, actually watch the fight again and see that it was Leites who didn’t fight not Silva, Silva can’t fight people near his level cuz there isn’t anyone up there….. He has beaten everyone the UFC has put infront of him what more do u guys want… Get over it.
And for Dana to “apologize” is bulll****, why apologize… Like he had something to do with Leites not wanting to fight.. F~it, Wanderlei and Anderson have been talking mess about one another recently so if Wand beats Franklin have Wandi and Silva fight each other (catch weight no title) or win or lose GSP v Silva for the title F~it fickle fans will never be pleased and after every PPV or fightnight or whatever they will come out a ****, whine and complain… This isn’t Days of our Lives or some damn thing this is MMA where two grown men fight each other, stop your complaining would ya (end rant)!
A bit upset I see
He’s right you know
Not entirely. I would be less annoyed if Silva hadn’t been doing trick soccer kicks and spinning backfists to nowhere. HE was playing around rather than TRYING to engage in a fight? Everyone says he has good BJJ but he wasn’t willing to even TRY using it.
It takes two to tango and there’s more than enough blame to go around. Some falls on Leites and some falls on Silva. No one comes out clean from that fight.
fr702 .. yes that fight was ugly ,and I’m with you ,totally not Silva fault. This fight was boring because Leites wasn’t going for the win or loss…. Leites was satisfied with Surviving.. UFC this is what you get when you throw a fighter at Silva because you don’t have a number 1 contender really, don’t force it from now on wait for a contender for Silva.
I agree biz. Both fighters were disappointing. Leites more
than anderson but the playing around dancing all that crap
just makes it worse. Then after the fight they get down on
the ground and get all lovey with each other like they are
respecting each other when really anderson was playing it off
like leites was a jackass so he gets no blame. It is hippocracy
On andersons part.
Fr702
Again you have said exactly what I was thinking.
If you guys are gonna complain about A. Silva!!! What happens “IF” Loyoto gets the belt?????
All those on his band wagon now cause he ko’d 1 dude, A. Silva goes the distance once and now people are complaining cause he is not dumb enough to go the the ground with a KNOWN Better BJJ fighter!!!
Crazy!
If he would have fought on the ground and got sub’d then everyone would be talking how stupid he was for a champion who has superior striking to go to the ground!!
“If he would have fought on the ground and got sub’d then everyone would be talking how stupid he was for a champion who has superior striking to go to the ground!!”
Good point.
@fr702: Guess you nailed it sir, great to hear from someone who understands his s..t, … I am allways pleased when I see an MMA of Kick/Thaibox venue sold out and buzzing with anticipation of things to come … and more often than not I get flustered by the audience’s reaction to fights, why go if you donot understand what unfolds in front of you. How can a great talented fighter go from hero to zero in just 1 fight
This fight was UFC’s doing they knew Anderson wouldn’t follow Leites to the ground why would he? And there was no way Thales would be the one pushing the offense on the feet. Silva has usually always been a counter puncher and more defensive until he feels the fight coming to an end. Come on this is the first time a Silva fight has gone the distance think this is more of an exception to the rule putting a horrible match up in front of him. You put Nate Marquardt back in front of Silva will be a great fight Nate has become a far better fighter. Or even Okami would be good for Silva.
What would make Okami any different from Leitas?
Okami moves forward, instead of falling on his back.
fr702
Your absolutley right and unfortunetly for the casual fan it must of been awful to watch.So what do you do?Does this mean damian maia doesn’t get a title shot?That wouldn’t be fair.Maybe put his next fight on spike to try to renew an interest in silva.Because from what i’ve read everybody hates silva now.I say get nate quarry in there to shut everybody up.You know that fight will be quick.And to acctually compare anderson to tim sylvia is just hilarious.
Dana shud apologize for eating up my hard working money of buying the ppv and giving these kinda sh*ty matchup.
Before you Sylva fan’s put all the blame on someone else, even when standing Anderson wouldn’t swing first…. he just stood there. Try watching the hoorible fight again. Most minutes were wasted with NEITHER guy doing anything but staring at each other.
People don’t pay money to watch guys play chess, so expect fights like this to cost MMA fans.
Chuck got knocked out, but MMA is going to miss the guys that went in to fight no matter what, standing up, punching first, countering, on the ground, against the fence, whatever it took to beat a guy.
If Anderson thinks he so great, instead of having a smaller guy (GSP) move up to fight you, go get Lyoto Machida.
I like the idea of taking money for not fighting. Neither one of these guys would have made a dime for that fight. Or, take away a 10 point system and let the judges give both guys whatever score they earned. So a the first round would have had Sylva win 2 points to 1. If the winning fighter doesn’t get at least 35 points, then both fighters are declared losers and the title is stripped.
thanks fr and justin, guys with a knowledge of mma rather than the majority of guys on here who are “fickle fans” that just want to see ko’s. silva is a cautious fighter, and a counterpuncher thats why he has held the belt for so long. I admit i said leites would sub silva in the second, and I thought he would do it. the 2nd round was the most exciting and leites took it. I think to avoid this situation the ufc should implement a rule that allows the ref to take away a point after two warnings if the guy wants to pull a “leites” after two points are taken away the ref could stop the fight and disqualify the guy. silva more than likely wont fight machida because they are from the same camp, and the fight potentially could be “boring” like the leites fight. maia is next for a title shot and he will not give up like leites did. it looked like leites gassed. after maia hendo-bisping gets the next title shot then maybe marquardt or wandy or cote depending on how they do. people should not bash silva the guy is a monster. like i said before if your gonna boo take your butt to the octagon and take on silva yourself. more than likely you would pull a leites or either give up or try to get out of the cage.
So you’re saying he’s a one trick pony who won’t even try anything new, even when he HAS A BLACK BELT and won’t even think about the ground? Sounds like a waste of a belt then.
Jorge gurgel is a perfect example of what i do NOT want to see in MMA…..i have a hard time watchin gurgel because he does everything in a fight in which he shouldnt. And that is exactly why he got cut from the UFC, because he tried to make u people bashing silva appreciate him more.The guy was a BJJ expert looking to stand n bang…is that exciting? or just plain stupid? u be the judge…i for one do not appreciate dumb technique….i also am gonna make a bold statement by saying i would rather watch Machida, Rashad, or Spider fight (even the fight last night ) than the forrest griffin bonnar fight again )…. what is so exciting about 2 guys exchanging punch after punch? if u have an answer to that, then u should also understand why it is soo exciting to watch a fighter walk into the fight looking to do just that, FIGHT, and walk out after 25 minutes without breaking a sweat or taking a shot while his opponents face looks mashed up…he is intelligent…deal with it, respect it, appreciate it, enjoy it, cuz these guys r REAL fighters and will have longer shelf lives cuz they dont take damage, and they f**kin outclass their opponents…. i love it
..i dont disagree with the knee kicks…especially when ur in that situation…what is it that u guys “casual” fans and drunk fans looking for a street fight want? He was just as frustrated with leites antics as u guys were, him busting his knee caps had to do with Leites Pu**ing out of the fight…. Leites looked like he was looking to get humped everytime he fell back and spread his legs open with that confused look on his face …. do u guys appreciate the sport? or is it the fact that u can get drunk n rowdy and yell some sh*t at the screen that gets u excited about the ufc / mma ? im confused, because i think regardless of what happned last night, most of u people would be finding something different to critisise….deal with it, respect it, or shut it … cuz ur runnin in circles … please n thank u
its funny to me about all this trash talk about the main event, i cant wait to download the fight and watch the main event couple more times…it actually left me perplexed as well as ENTERTAINED…im really interested in watching and analyzing the fight over n over..(he threw a reverse behind the back spinning foot stomp to the shin that LANDED) – …Anderson looks like a machine/robot, who shoots laser beams and heat seeking missiles from his limbs…his onorthodox style mixed with his jiggling and shaking is sooo amusing and entertaining…u people r all weird … he did all that without taking a punch…i respect him even more, im sure there is a reason he didnt get the finish, but that doesnt take away from his brilliance overall……silva fights in the matrix, thats why u guys cant see him ….
That was almost as bad as Kalib Sterns fight in Montreal last year.
And what happened to him… he’s gone just like Leites should be.
Na na na na na na na na hey hey hey GOODBYE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What the hell you guys are talking about…..Even Dana himself said “You guys know, this isn’t what the UFC was built on and this isn’t the way the fights usually go.”
bottom line it was refreshing to see soemthing different in one bouting where his opponent was looking to get laid with his legs spread and a goofy look on his face where he dropped to his back 14 times in the fight like he was ——- …. i thought it was entertaining as hell for him to showcase his laser beams and hadokens from a distance while never taking any damage at ALL ….. he wont be like this in all his fights, im sure couple years down the road where hes gone through few more events, people will look back and appreciate his technique even in thsi fight…and realsie ur alllll being sooo melo-dramatic…get over it…spider has proven he can fight and end the fight in the first minute, hes also proven he can dance with one arm behind his back and never take any blows…im glad ive seen both techniques…
Chuck liddell is going out with partial brain/memory damage…getting KTFO in 3 of his last 5..sh*tting his shorts after the rashad KO…and being over zealous….. Silva eventually will go out, undefeated, with his title in tact (never having lost a title bout in ANY org. ) … his health in tact and a beautiful rest of his life to look forward to, meanwhile having mesmerized millions with his bruce lee like matrix technique … liddell is a victim of the “sport” …. anderson victimises people in the “sport” ….
(Let’s not bring up Chuck’s personal life – Justin)
I was there last night and haven’t seen a replay yet, but that fight was bullcrap. And I can’t even balme Leites 100% for the performance; Silva never really went for the finish. It was just a cautious fight that no one wants to see.
Jesus, I agree with you for once. There is enough blame there for both fighters, the ref, and whichever idiot of a judge scored it 50-46.
What a disrespectful display by both fighters. Silva is not a champion and it was clear to see that he carried the fight and limited the damage because Leitis is a fellow Brazilian. It was clear that Silva could inflict damage any time he choose to, but he decided to circle the ring and carry the fight on way longer than he should have. I think Dana White has no choice but to bring Wanderlie and Bispen as his next two opponents or make him move up to 205 division. I still say White should strip Silva of the title and make him work to regain it. I think the UFC owes the fans who purchased this fight a partial refund if not to televise UFC 98 or 99 for free on Spike or NBC. Silva is no longer a champion, but more of a chump who is afraid to take the fight to his opponents and conquer them totally in the cage. Has he lost his heart? His last two fights sure look like he has.
Are you trolling or do you seriously think that ZUFFA should strip him of his title, cuz nobody can can beat him for it? Do you seriously believe what you just typed? wow
Looks to me like he arguing that Silva hasn’t actually tried to fight in his last two trips into the cage. Everyone said “he wasn’t taking Cote seriously, he could have finished it whenever” and I tried to rail about that attitude being ok then. Now everyone is starting again. HE’S A FCKING CHAMPION HE SHOULD FCKING FIGHT EVERY GOD DAMN TIME THEY GIVE HIM A FIGHT. Anything less is a disgrace and a sign of complete disrespect to the organizationg that CHOOSES to employ him and the fans that watch. I’m sick of people excusing his jackassery just because he’s the great Silva.
If he does this again against Maia, strip him. If he, a bjj black belt, can’t prepare for another bjj black belt in 4-6 months he needs to hang the gloves up now.
strip him of his title? really?…I mean really? Randy Couture breached his freaking contract, made a deal with a rival company, spoke against dana white and the Fertitta’s, and STILL kept his belt. So you want Silva to be stripped of his title because of his last two fights? wow…
I think both fighters deserve blame for the outcome of this fight Leites falling on his back every time Silva would start to let his hands and feet go was bad. Silva getting on top, and then backing out, or just dancing instead of actually trying to strike was bad. I don’t think though that you strip Silva of the belt for that performance. He didn’t pull a Kalib Starnes, and he didn’t continually postpone defending like KJ Noons (which I have some problems with the way he was let go, but that’s another discussion for another day). In stepped in the Octagon against the opponent he was given, when the UFC wanted him to do so. He inflicted more damage than his opponent and was more aggressive than his opponent. So now you want to strip his belt because he didn’t win in exciting fashion? If he continues to fight that way, you find someone that can beat him, and cut him as soon as he loses. Or do like Dana talked about in the below linked video and throw him to the wolves at 205.
You’ll notice I said “IF he does it again,” which would mean he danced like a retarded spider monkey for three straight fights, never seeking to ACTUALLY DO ANYTHING the issue needs to be raised because his antics are an embarrassment.
My point is that every time he fights, I’m told he’s a bjj black belt but as soon as you put him in a ring with another bjj guy, he acts like he’s allergic to ring dirt and won’t go anywhere near the ground. He’s almost admitting he got his bjj black belt because of his friendship and not because of his ability. And no, one rear naked choke and a triangle doesn’t showcase his alleged bjj talents.
So let’s look at numbers. According to the summary of his career on wikipedia, 17% of his wins are by sumbission, 50% of his losses are. If you look at the table showing his wins and methods, only 2 of his wins are submissions which would make his submission win% closer to 8%. Incidentally, 2 submission wins is the same number as Junie Browning.
His bjj isn’t underrated, it’s crap and he knows it. And that’s why he’s allergic to the ground.
Lutter may suck in MMA but the guy did earn a black belt under Machado and Silva finished him w/ a triangle and elbows. 2 of those 4 submissions were due to strikes so I see your point but looking at his full profile how many BJJ guys has he faced in the UFC? just two. Lutter and Leites. Outside the UFC he’s beat every BJJ guy he’s faced as well. If you are fighting a guy who has a BJJ black belt and you do too but you know the guy sucks at striking why risk a submission and just beat him on your feat.
feet*
Except he didn’t do that to Leites (beat him on the feet). He landed one punch in each round and then went prancing around like a pretty little pony. He’s gone passive, since HE STOOD UP OFF HIM INSTEAD OF GNP. It’s a disgrace, plain and simple. That fight went 5 rounds because Silva CHOSE not to finish it.
Unlike Silva, when Randy steps in the rings he fights. You may not strip a fighter because of contract issues, but a fighter that refuses to throw a punch should be stripped.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9aZugTVwyw
right but it took court action to put him back in the ring.
no matter what i will always agree with what both silva and chuck liddell said about the silva/leites fight…and thats that its not silva’s fault …”you just dont know how frustratingit can be for a striker when your opposing fighter drops to the canvas at any sign of a strike coming”….and people say lyoto is elusive thailes leites is the most elusive fighter ever…IMO i didnt think the main event was the worst ever like some…..but what do you expect silva to do with there not being an legitimate mdw challengers in the world with the exception of maia,mousasi and marquardt…….i just cant agree with people either though when everyone said silva should have chased leites to the ground too because thats dumb and its showing how selfish us mma fans get sometimes because we are asking the p4p best fighter in the world to go to the ground and follow into the footsteps of someelsees gamplan thats just dumb and it doesnt make sense but hey thats just me…anyyways im just gonna put this event behind me and wait for some lyoto/suga action in may
Dana said “We’ve got to do something”. I think Dana is just a big mouth and nothing more! If he really wanted to do something and apologize he should give those who attended the event their money back or at least future discounts, other than that he would be just a big mouth. Regarding the match I think it is the fault of the UFC for choosing such weak fighter to stand against Silva. Money back!
Dbiz
You acctually truely believe that silva should jump on the ground with a BJJ black belt knowing thats the only way he has a chance at loosing the fight?Knowing if he can keep the fight standing he most likely is going to win?That doesn’t sound smart to me.When you watch lidell fights(and we all know he never fought a boring fight)you never see him go after opponents on the ground.I know he’s not bjj black belt but the point is he knew his strengths.Why take the chance.It’s just a matter of matchups.He seemed just as frustrated.And even if he fights damian maia i don’t think will get the same result.Thales just didn’t want the belt enough to take any chances.
I’m saying he shouldn’t be AFRAID to. And he is.
Let me clarify.
Everyone is crucifying Leites and saying HE alone made it a boring fight. He didn’t HELP the situation, but there is blame for him, there is blame for Silva, and there is blame for Lavigne.
I, however, seem to be one of the few that is recognizing that Silva has ANY blame in the fact that One of the judges actually fell asleep during the fight. YOU CAN’T PUT THE BLAME ON ONE PARTY HERE.
Silva didn’t even REALLY try to strike after the third round. IT was sickening all around. And I’m not going to sit back and pretend that Silva didn’t fall in my opinion of him.
whats crazy is silva showcased two moves that I have never seen before. the stomp to the knee over and over again and the punch to the knee. he freaking punched a guy in his knee/thigh. thats insane. I got a kick out of his retarted ali impression, but thats his style. he does head fakes and body fakes. watch any of his “exciting” fights. evans did that against forrest and chuck and noone is complaining he was doing retarted spider monkey impressions. and to mr. jwilly84us you lost your privelage to post your opinions for 1 hour for posting that retarted post. silva is a chump? strip him of his title? he has no heart? seriously bro, watch more of his fights. i am not a huge fan of silva, but there is no questioning his skills. he is a monster. he makes world class/top mma guys look like they have no skill. granted his fight against cote wasnt great, but his style is to counter. he cannont be blamed for the leites fight. so basically the majority of guys posting on this topic want silva to rush into leites guard, or rush him in striking just so you guys could see a exciting fight? thats crap, and stupid. gsp lost to serra that way, all it takes is 1 punch/kick to change a fight or end it. if you watch gsp’s fights now you would see he doesnt rush opponents like he used to. he is more patient. silva tried at least 3 headkicks to give fans an “exciting” ko, and people are still complaining and want their money back. ok thats gonna happen.
Totally with ya dude.
The straight on knee stomps were sick. I winced at every one of them. Silva was doing all he could with a guy that didn’t appear to want to fight.
How bout this??????????????
If you are supposed to get $50,000 for a fight…well you get only $5,000 to fight, but….
$30,000 if you finish in the 1st round, $20k in round 2 and $10K for round 3.
If you knock them out or submit you get an extra $20,000.
If you suck, then you only get the $5k and nothing else.
Money ****ing talks.
That would mean legally you could only sign the fight for a base pay 5k and then add those incentives. Good luck with that. You would see so many top fighters leave in a heart beat.
Like I said earlier go to the old Pride FC system in which you can issue penalty cards for inactivity that would dock 10% of the purse each time you’re carded.
I’ve seen those cards misused big time, though. On one of the recent Japanese fight cards I was watching there was a snoozer of a fight with neither fighter really doing anything, and there were no cards. The next fight was actually a pretty decent fight, but it was a grappler v. striker match and the grappler kept tying up to go for throws and they would end up stuck in the corner of the ring after the striker would stuff the take down. There was even some clinch striking from both fighters… the grappler got a yellow card.
Not saying it is perfect but the cards could be appealable as well. The key would be for the ref’s to encourage action and only use the cards in severe cases. It is always somewhat subjective but any type of penalty given by a ref will be subjective. Stalling calls in FILA wrestling are effective but they are misused sometimes as well. I used a drop step sometimes when shooting a low single to get the guy moving forward towards me and a ref hit for stalling when I did it. I was annoyed but like I said it happens with any rule.
The are pointless here because the AC won’t let them take away money (per Frank Trigg). In MMA in North America there is a point system by which fighters are punished for infractions. Take a point for inactivity/nonaggression, not money.
As far as his “spider monkey impressions”there was a good article in fight magazine about that.He apparently tranied in capoeira(dance fighting)when there was nothing else available at that time to him.You see a little of it in every fight sometimes during or after the fight.I think it’s just second nature for him to move in unorthodox ways.I’m not saying that he’s not show boating a little,but he has some justifacation in his manurisms.
This wasn’t the most exciting fight in the world, but it’s a type of fight we’ve seen before. One guy wants to do nothing but strike because he knows he’ll win that way, and another guy that wants the fight on the ground because he knows that is the only way for him to win.
This typically makes for a great fight… except when the grappler doesn’t actually try to take the fight to the ground. Leites’s limited takedowms were easily defended, then all he did was fall on his back and expect Silva to follow him. If a grappler wants the fight on the ground, it is up to them to take it there. It’s not up to the striker to get on the ground for them.
Silva is a counter striker. That is his game. When his opponent doesn’t engage on his feet and just falls on his back whenever Silva tries to strike, it doensn’t make sense to blame Silva. Part of being a champion is fighting smart, and that is what Silva did. He could have gone in recklessly or more aggressively, and set himself up for unnecessarily getting caught. You could tell Silva was frustrated and trying to make it entertaining. But he wasn’t willing to fight Leites’s game plan to make it entertaining, and I’m not sure why he is being criticised for that.
ANYONE ELSE NOTICE ANDERSON SILVA, TAKING THE VASELINE FROM HIS FACE AND SPREADING IT OVER HIS CHEST AND ARMS BEFORE THE FIGHT BEGAN, NOW THAT LOOKED VERY DELIBERATE SPECIALY SINCE THE CAMERA WAS FOLLOWING HIM FOR LIKE 2 MIN WHILE HE WAS DOING IT. LOOKED WAY WORSE THEN THE HOLE GSP THING
Yeah, we wrote a story about that.
ARE THOSE FRONT LEG KNEE STOMPS LEGAL? HE’S GOING TO SNAP SOMEONES LEG.
Yes the leg stomps are legal. And for two guys of equal ability they really aren’t that big a deal. They are very easily defended. The problem is when one guy isn’t doing anything to protect himself from them.
Couldn’t agree more mmafan.Thats what i’ve been saying since all of this negetive backlash started.I’m not even that big of a silva fan,but i would never deny his greatness.I think i’m still bitter about him wrecking franklin twice.I just think some of this critism is not warrented and some down right ridiculous.
Its not Anderson’s job to jump to the guy on the ground just so you get your money’s worth. He is a fighter with a plan to win and if a fighter wants the other guy on the ground, he has to take him there.
I dont blame Anderson. I did see him make efforts to end the fight, he just wasnt going to GnP and I dont blame him for that.
I DO blame Leites. “pulling guard” should be jus that…PULLing the guy down. Jumping to his back is the weakest showing I have seen in he UFC since Kalib Starnes was on his bike the whole fight against Nate Quarry.
I DO also blame the UFC ref and thus Dana is just in his appoligy. I think he should have warned Leites that he must engage Anderson and stop jumping to his back or he would lose a point. I think it violates Rule/Foul 29 “Timidity, including, without limitation, avoiding contact with an opponent, intentionally or consistently dropping the mouthpiece or faking an injury.”
The refs don’t work for the UFC, they work for the athletic commission, but I do agree with you there should have been at least a threat of a point being taken away.
While it can violate Rule/Foul 29 the fact that Silva did not attempt to engage him when Leites flopped means that both guys would be at fault and points would have to be deducted from both fighters and with it happening that many times it’d eventually led to a no-contest decision and refs are taught to avoid that at all costs by the athletic commission.
Again, remember the refs are not the UFC’s. They’re part of whatever sanctioning commission the fight location is under. The reason you see so many of the same guys is because they are licensed under many different AC’s and you are always going to put your longer tenured guys on the bigger events.
Chrisl: I couldnt disagree with you more. The fighters start on their feet and if a ground fighter wants to take the fight there, he needs to be able to bring his opponent to mat. If the UFC started fighters in the referee’s position (like college wrestling where one guy is on all 4’s and the other guy’s arm around his waste), I would agree with you then that they need to commit to the fight wherever it is.
If that were the case though, BJJ would be very dominant and strikers would be out of the game. If someone wants to jits a striker, they need to get through the strikes, not just lay down.
And Silva climbing off him to go dance in the corner isn’t timidity? He went from throwing punches full mount to doing the hustle across the cage in 5.2 seconds.
This fight reminded me of an episode of “Dog Whisperer” in that every time the Alpha male approached the lesser male would fall onto his back in a submissive display.
now that is hilarious haha
I love the skill set of A. Silva,I can’t deny. Even during that horribly boring fight, I still found myself in awe of Silva’s speed and skill set. Its flat out awesome.
BBBUUUTTTT, I would advise true MMA fans to be careful in defending his lack of aggression. I am a HARDCORE boxing fan and TRUST me his style can kill the great sport of MMA! Trust me. Dana is/was a boxing guy as well so he clearly understands the danger within his style. This is the reason the UFC wants NO part of non-aggressive fighters. As a fighter u dont have to knock every guy out, but the fans appreciate it more if u at least try and for anyone who thinks Silva gave it his best his last 2 fights are either blind or crazy. Its very dangerous in what hes doing to the sport. The last thing people want to see is some one who is blessed like A. Silva just tease his opponents and the fans. Boxing was/is cursed with a handful of fighters like this who constantly kill the sport: Mayweather, Hopkins, Whitaker, Taylor, and many others who have all of the talent in the world and could care less about pleasing the fans. PEOPLE will stop watching. I am a huge fan of the sport and I try to encourage my friends to watch and appreciate the sport as well and they have Silvas last 2 fights and were highly unsatisfied. Thank goodness they enjoyed watching GSP’s last two fights.
I don’t really understand where you are coming from on this. Silva was trying to strike and go for a knockout. But how is he supposed to do that when his opponent lays back and tries to fall into guard during most of the fight? I don’t think it was Silva’s lack of aggression at all that was the problem. It was Leites’s lack of aggression.
I respect Leites’s skills and grapping a lot, but he simply could not take the fight where he wanted it, and refused to try anything else.
Find Silva an opponent that really wants to get in there and bang and I think you’ll see the Silva from 3-4 fights ago back immediately. Maybe Bisping?
What Im saying is that from the 3rd round(definately the 4th round) and on Silva had many chances to inflict some serious damage to Leitas. By the 4th Leitas had the look of a confused and fatigued fighter. Silva was still throwing crisp strikes(the few he did). To me its very reminiscent to watching a Roy Jones or Mayweather fight. And I believe a lot of that and many other things is what is destroying boxing. Silva is the top dawg in the sport right now so many up and comers will adopt his style, such as they did in boxing. While his skills are great for the sport, his mentality isn’t and many people will stop watching, such as they did Roy Jones and Mayweather.
For example: Chuck and Silva are both considered to be counter strikers, but who gets all of the Respect and Money? Chuck! I know I know, Chuck has looked really bad lately, but hes older and usually that seems to be the fighters fate. Silva is getting up there in age too and his demise may not be as far off as we all think. It happens overnight with most fighters and I just believe he should take full advantage of his skill set while he has the chance because they will not be here forever. And unfortunately it may be more of a celebration caused by his defeat then it will be of a saddened moment like it was for Chuck. It just seemed like a total lack of preperation and heart displayed by both fighters. I guess time will tell…
I get what you’re saying now. And you perhaps could be right. I don’t want to compare him to Tim Silvia and how passive he got in his last few title defenses (Silva at least didn’t lay there in guard looking at the referee to stand them up!)… but I do get the point you’re getting at now.
Bzul3
I don’t quite get the hole roy jomes,mayweather,whitaker(killing the sport analogy)I personally got in to boxing because of roy jones.I thought the sport was dying because lack of such talent.So silva had a couple of boring fights.I can assure you theres many knock outs to come.I think silva has been nothing but great for the sport,and when he knocks out a few more like he did leben,franklin twice or submits them like he did henderson or luter this will be forgotten about.I think they should institute some kind of deley of game rule like in hockey when a player flips the puck over the glass.Give the referee the disgresion.
RJA
I understand ur point, but what I am saying in reference to Jones and Mayweather is just like how Jones got u into boxing, Silva sparked my interest into MMA. But I see the same pattern with Jones that I see starting to happen with Silva. When Jones was at his most dangerous/hungriest in the early and mid nineties he was quite the show. He was destroying his opposition in spectacular fashion just like Silva would. He would sell out venues and his TV ratings were very high. But eventually after a few title defenses he became bored and complacent and he began to carry his opponents thru 12 round decisions full of dancing and showboating. The crowds began to boo him and the general boxing public resented him for it. But Jones was never affected by it and continued with his silly ways well into the 21st century. But by this time he was clearly the pound for pound best but couldnt sell out a venue or carry a card if his life depended on it. His PPV numbers were very low and the public kinda lost interest with him. He had a big fight against James Toney in 1994 and didnt have another note worthy performance until he fought John Ruiz in 2003. Although in between that time period he clearly dominated all of his opposition but hardly ever in a spectacular fashion after 96/97. While other fighters with inferior skills in comparrison to him recieved all of the fame, popularity, and money. Such as: Oscar De La Hoya, Felix Trinidad, Mike Tyson, Prince Naseem Hamed, and Evander Holyfield. Although these guys were great boxers, their skills were no where close to Roy Jones’. But what they had and displayed were the hearts of warriors and never carried their opponents.
The same thing is happening with Silva. He was awesome when he needed to be but now it appears that he is satisfied with being just getting by. Compared to the other stars in the UFC, his PPV numbers are very low and his poularity is not where it should be. Not even close. But it is quite apparent when u watch him, his skills are above and beyond any one else in the sport, but hes seems to be satisfied with just getting by, just like Roy Jones, and quite frankly his popularity is begining to reflect that. I believe the UFC sees and understands this and that is why they want nothing to do with performances like that. It can and will only hurt the brand. Your best fighter should be your most marketable fighter, but instead he may not headline an event anytime soon unless hes goin against another already established headliner.
So when your best fighter is not the fighter you can trust to put onto the big stage, Your brand will be forced to resort to the inferior talent(that may be crowd pleasing). Thats a horrible thing for the company because the inferior talent will begin to show and it will only hurt the company/product. They will bring in the money but can slowly hurt the product. I.E. “Kimbo Slice”. Its the same reason why the UFC would HAVE to resort to displaying Brock Lesnar over A. Silva at UFC 100. Silva’s style only hurts the company unfortunately.
bzul3
Enough of your marketing crap!
Silva did nothing but the right thing!
Next time let the UFC choose the right opponent; somebody who is willing to fight and not a chicken like Leites. If there were anything wrong with this match it would be the fault of the UFC or whoever setup this match. Next time let your Dana choose the right opponent and if he finds nobody he better step by himself into the octagon, I would pay to see this match!
1) Dana doesn’t set up fights.
2) Silva’s job is to fight, not dance. HE wasn’t even trying to throw real strikes at the end, opting instead ot punch a knee. You know instead of a face.
3) Silva did do something wrong. He was full mount throwing punches and stood up to go do the YMCA dance. All we needed was Lavigne dressed up as a construction worker.
But here’s the thing. Silva did something wrong bu not finishing when he had chances. Lavigne did soemthing wrong by not taking a point when the flops started. And Leites did something wrong by not trying everything he could to get Silva down.
No one is blameless in this scenario.
(no personal attacks – Justin)
bzul3
Fair enough.But i’ve heard talk of silva wanting to possible fight jones in a boxing match after his contract is up with the ufc.So i’m just wondering who do you think would showboat more?lol.
LMAO!! The dance factor in that fight might be the most interesting part of that fight!
It’s actually egotistacal of Dana to ‘apologize’ on behalf of the worlds greatest fighters. He pretentiously lives vicariously through them.
And I really found this was one of the best spider fights.
why?
because he had an awesome opponent who commanded respect by being deadly with submissions.
I’d rather watch a good 1-0 world cup football game than a 26-2 game egypt vs. iceland in the B division. (although those can be a good laugh)
if it it’s blood and guts you want, watch a medical procedure documentary , or some warfare torture on the internet. you freaks.
silva was dancing and taunting only to avoid going to the ground with the worlds best sub guy, not because he’s a dancing idiot.
dude you’re missing the point. That wasnt a 1-0 football game, at no point during the fight I thought Leites had a chance. it was a 30-0 blow out, and ontop of that the team that got the 30 could’ve gotten 50 goals. Sad, UFC takes a step back IMO.
Anderson did what he needed to do, we shouldn’t even be talking about this.
When a fighter avoids fighting just like the main event of UFC97 do what Pride did take half the purse and that will light a fire under the fighters.Honestly not all fights can be a Stout vs. Wiman fight which i thought Wiman won. Lucky you were in Canada Stout.Silvas last two fights look like the same fight show boating and this shimmy shake thing Silva is doing. I think UFC should make its next two UFC fights free to make up for that crappy main card. Dana stated the UFC is not loosing its steam but checkout there live gate and PPV and they have fallen alot since last year. I wonder is it due to alot of the fighters that helped UFC become what it is today got the boot or is MMA loosing its steam all together.
I stated, earlier in the comments of this thread, and on two other threads, that they cannot cut into the purse of the fighters via yellow cards like they do in Japan. It is against the rules of the Athletic Commissions.
It was hilarious when the fans were cheering “bull****”. That’s exactly what the fight was.
I agree that the fight was not the most exciting fight I have seen, but to appologize for it is just stupid. If the fans wanted none stop action then go watch WWE…. These were two very technical fighter trying to play their strongest cards. Some fights are “chess matches” and actual fans of the martial arts understand that. The fact that Anderson would not go to the ground was a sign of respect for Leites ground skills, and vise versa… Was it “Cost effective” to pay for it and watch it? Only you can decide that, but it was a “Mixed Martial Arts” fight. I am relatively sure thats what the UFC is marketed as “MMA.” So in conclusion if you didn’t like it then don’t pay for it, and go watch wrestling….
thanks to all fighters…
I am not a casual fan. I am watching UFC and the like because it is the closest to what i always thought fighting should be like if you are faced down in real life. Therefore, the training and mastery of devastating techniques that evolve as the situation dictates requires a special kind of person. Up and striking if that’s whats called for or down and dirty if that is called for. Quick thinking and reaction with a variety of techniques is to me a good fighter.
If one guy cannot fight on the ground, he’s half a fighter. If the other guy cannot stand toe to toe, he’s half a fighter. So together these guys fought themselves. In my world, you get the other guy to make the mistakes that allow you to fight your game. Hello, it was like watching two counterpunches – boring and unskilled at creating openings.
I say send Silva to “Dancing With The Stars” and Leites to a Sealy Posturpedic commercial. Don’t do this again, Dana.
Silva is not the best standup fighter in the world. Stats wouldsay it’s Fedor. Deals most damage and never gets hit. Silva is a **** p4p king my ass.. 2funny people seriously 2funny you guys still get behind this guy?
Can’t wait for him to get run out of the UFC LHW division.