Demian Maia Apologizes for Performance Against “Disrespectful” Silva, Ready to Fight Again
Unsuccessful middleweight challenger Demian Maia apologized in a post-fight interview for his slow start against “disrespectful” 185-pound title-holder Anderson Silva in the main event of Saturday’s UFC 112, but says he’ll be training for a rematch:
“It took time for me to get warmed up and feel well during the fight. I started to feel better in the middle of the fight. In the first two rounds I didn’t do well, but in the last two rounds I think I did well. I went to fight and he was running around, but it’s okay, that’s his game and I knew he was going to do that. I landed some punches and he landed many punches on me. It was a war, but I’m ready to do it again.
He was very disrespectful to me, but it’s his way. After the fight he apologized but I don’t think it’s right for him to do this during the fight. He was swearing to me in the middle of the fight. It’s okay, he’s the best in the world, but I will be training to fight him again.
I want to say sorry that it took me so long to get in the fight. I never fought five rounds and I was trying to hold back a little in the first rounds. After I got hit I started to fight better, but he was winning already.
For complete UFC 112 coverage, check out MMAFrenzy.com’s UFC 112 archives.
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I had been a big Silva fan after watching the Franklin fights,no more. I wonder if he realizes he just made himself look very foolish. Coming from a traditional martial arts background I thought his behaviour appalling.
Full credit to Maia, Silva is undoubtedly the better fighter but only Maia can come away with any pride.
If it happens, I hope GSP grinds him into the mat.
anderson silva is my favorite fighter, last night was a complete total “joke”!!!!!! dana white wants mma to grow into an olympic sport and this and that, all it would take is a couple of more no class fights like these to turn promoters and fans away…… anyone who paid the 50 bucks for this pay per view i feel sorry for you and not to mention anyone who attended this event live and paid waaaaaay to much for a bad seat wow you got ripped off…… the first event I attended live was back at UFC 55, I feel personally as a huge fan of the UFC that it is progressively getting worse with almost 2 cards a month, back then it was a treat to see a card once every three months….. its all about the money now, there is very few passionate fighters, for example the last two main events……GSP played it safe and rolled around and wrestled for five rounds to earn a decision victory over a contender who trained to fight and did not want to take any risk to standup, because as we know his standup is weak and he is like arlovski with no chin (a disgraceful fight, this is not fighting, could you imagine tyson in his prime going into a ring and just dodging punches and not trying to finish a fight?????) And now last night, I am not going to say anything about the main event last night other than honestly that topped the kaleb starns fight when he ran the whole fight, and the ufc cut him the very next day…… I believe we saw two kaleb starns last night, hands down the worst ufc fight I have ever seen……. The excitement seems to fizzle out of me almost every time now we have these fights, the fighters aren’t taking risks they just want to earn the paycheck, its all going in the wrong direction. I have been to a total of five live events and after the last six months I will only go now if i get free tickets, no buying ppv or wasting money on 200 buck seats in the nose bleed section, these fights have been a disgrace to everything the UFC is about……Ultimate Fighting Championship or should we say duck and roll and get your paycheck championship, as a true fan I don’t know how many more dissappointments I can stand to watch……I can’t imagine what is going through Dana Whites mind, Yeah GSP and Anderson are my two best guys, really because they only play it safe now to collect, please go get some fighters who want to help progress this sport and not follow the money pit hole of where boxing is right now……… Dana the UFC needs some real champions, please get FEDOR………A Classy individual who wow FINISHES FIGHTS!!!!!!!!! I would rather see FEDOR fight every six months in the UFC than anderson or gsp, is that saying enough of where the ufc is right now dana………If i was lucky enough to be in dana whites shoes both of these last two main events champions would not collect a pay check i would suspend or maybe cut, make a statement so your sport doesn’t collapse with the money greed that killed boxing……….
I agree the silva fight was awful. But dude you are taking this to hard. As a huge mma fan I am also a big sports fan in general. This stuff happens in sports, havent you ever been pumped up for a game of some kind and been let down. Chill out it will be OK………..
The difference between GSP and Silva was that GSP was actively trying to submit Hardy for five rounds and wasn’t able to get him to tap. Even in the fifth round, he was still actively seeking that submission. He didn’t get it, but you could see what he was trying to do. You could have an argument about whether or not it was a good idea after Hardy didn’t tap after that armbar and shoulder lock, but it was a plan.
Silva, on the other hand, had no intention of finishing that fight, he was just out clowning.
Man your being way to hard on gsp.Dan hardy’s only chance to win was on his feet,and gsp took that away from him.I don’t understand why you think he should be cut for that.You do however have every right to be mad at silva.There really should be some kind of repercussion for his antics.The worst part is now we might not see silva gsp because of his antics.
maia’s only chance to win was to take silva down and he couldnt
yeah dude, GSP/Hardy fight was a rare oddity. almost ANYONE would’ve already tapped to all 3 GSP’s submission attempts. Hardy is just a freak of nature who refuses to tap. if it was GSP against someone else, he’d already won with one of those submissions.
You my friend,, call yourself an mma fan? A fan should surely be able to realise that it’s not always going to be flying armbars and spinning back fist ko’s. The only reason I’m angry is at Anderson silva for fighting like a complete prick, not at the sport, the fights Dana and the ufc are putting on are getting better and better, and so is the sport. And still **** the main event if they keep puttting on prelims and undercards like that I will be a happy man. Anyway my point is If you’re questioning the organisation and the sport for one fighters tendency to behave like a jerk then I’d stick to watching golf buddy.
Good write up. Sometimes blunt and to the point is good to hear.
I love how people start “Anderson Silva is my favorite fighter…..” and then go on to bashing him! If you are going to do that, then he was never your favorite fighter. Instead you try your best to defend his actions or keep your mouth shut. It’s what I have been doing with Tito for the last 10 years.
No, that’s called being a nut hugger. Someone can be your favorite fighter and they cane let you down. It isn’t bashing. It’s honesty. It’s integrity.
Anyone who can’t tell their favorite anything when they’ve screwed the pooch isn’t doing anyone any favors.
ufc fan i was totally outraged by what Anderson Silva did, but firstly to compare him to GSP who was very active in implementing his gameplan and demonstrating his amazing wrestling ability over 5 rounds is completely different to a elite world class striker acting like hes having a fit to taunt his opponent into striking with him, swearing, literally running away and then to disrespect Damien Maia like he was i thought was actually cring worthy. If Wanderlei Silva was in Maia’s corner which i was shocked he wasnt i guarantee he would have jumped in that octagon and showed Anderson some respect. Anderson Silva is probably the best Muay Thai striker ive seen in MMA 4 sure and im a Muay Thai fighter but for him to not even try which is what he did is not only disrespectful to the fans that paid to be there in attendance and to buy a PPV but also to Dana White and the UFC who have made Silva who he is and finally to himself not to live upto his true ability.
Lastly id love to no what Blackhouse and especially the Nogueria borthers think of his shambolic disrespectful display a men of honour like they are and Machida on that hand im sure wouldnt be to happy with him at all.
you’re right about the ufc making silva who is, and definetly about who hes become…
its the ufc’s craptastic match making that has put two “submission aces” in against the best striker in the world…
FFS its not like days of old when gracie came in and would submit guys who would out strike him and out weight him etc etc… not only do you have to be well rounded but you have to be the best
It goes both ways: Anderson didn’t finish, but Maia threw about 4 punches. It was just a bad fight overall. Anderson needs someone who will continue to come at him. I would love to see Vitor vs Anderson.
Maybe Anderson’s attitude will catch up with him when he fights someone who can knock him out. Actually, I’m betting on it.
Maia said that he was starting to feel all right in the middle of the fight, and he THINK’S he did better in the last 2 rounds! He didn’t do anything the whole fight but get pounded. As stupid as Silva was in that fight it was almost worst watching Maia just stand there! I’m not given anyone of these guys any respect for this TERRIBLE fight!!
I just hope to god there next fight’s are more entertaining.
For Anderson Silva sit there and bash on Maia for being disrespectful and all this is crazy. He’s sitting there swearing at Maia, taunting and then running away the whole fight. I mean come on this is just beyond stupid. I really think Dana White needs to step in and do what needs to be done and make Silva an undercard or do something. This guy is a champ he should be a draw but there’s plenty of other guys who draw a lot better than him. I’m just so bored of this guy anymore. Atleast GSP actually is implenting a game plan the whole fight and doing something other than taunting which is just beyond disrespectful. Silva is setting the sport back with his actions, if your the better striker like you say you are and Maia is standing there waiting to bang then bang. Don’t dance around the ring and get gased.
so drawing in an audience is more important that providing a champ with a ‘challenger’
Hey WILL explain how u can defend the way anderson was acting last night. U can be a huge fan of someone and still not like the way they acted. Im a huge brock fan and i hated the way he acted after he beat mir. It shows no class to the guy you r fighting. After last night anderson is nothing but a joke. What they should do is take the belt away from the guy
12 fight winning streak (11 in the UFC) 6 title defenses = joke, um doubtful
Maybe not so much defend, but people going off and saying they will “Never watch another UFC PPV…” or “Watch another Anderson Silva fight….” makes me laugh as much as watching Anderson do whatever the he11 he was doing for the last 2.5 rounds. Some people went as far as saying they should get their PPV money back! We got to see one helluva tough Munoz escape several deep submission attempts and won by TKO, Rafael dos Anjos with some amazing BJJ and submitting a very skilled Etim, an up and coming beast in Phil Davis that has title contention possibilities in a few years, Matt Hughes leg kicking the he11 out of Gracie, Penn/Edgar 5 rounds of non-stop action(should have been 48-47 across the board, but that’s another topic) and yes Anderson Silva giving us something that I have NEVER seen in the numerous years that I have been watching MMA.
I could make up all kinds of excuses to defend Anderson Silva, would any of them be correct, no. Anderson is pretty much the only person that can explain his “fighting tactics” and I do not see that press conference coming up any time soon. Anderson vs Belfort or vs Sonnen will more then likely be the main event and will draw in lots of viewers, my self included.
I will always order a UFC ppv no matter what. Sure some come thru better than others but i was very impressed (outside of Anderson) with the card. Even thought Anderson has given us 3 boring fights at 185 ill still watch in hopes that someone can beat him. Im am more disapointed because i have wanted to see Anderson Fight GSP for YEARS now and he ruined that for us. So Anderson Can be boring and show boating and not look to press the action and counter, and suprise us with perfect english only to hide behind his manager, and not come to fight (even though its your career). That all fine by me, but when your the only decent challenger to fight my Boy GSP and you ruin it for him and his Legacy and all his fans to show that he is the best fighter in the world and show that no one can keep up with his “Riddum” then thats where my problem with you lies sir…
I paid for PPV, invited friends and family and got ripped off.
Why is it the free fights seem to always be better.
The one good thing was Marky going ape-sh!t-Tito-style on Kendell.
I watched a whole documentary on Silva. I had the impression that he was this cool, descent, family guy who was religiously dedicated to his art. This is after all, what most of us want to believe about our heroes.
I know firsthand that it’s a brutal sport but does that mean that we can’t also have character and integrity? Silva’s performance does even more than all of the above comments. It demoralizes us.
Yes, I have been through watching a lousy sports event after being overly media-hyped about it. I know it happens. But it’s really all in the intention. Discovering the low INTENTIONS of a team or a fighter is a rotten experience.
you know what free fights are gonna be better than 112 is strikeforce on cbs in less than a week. after 112 im even more pumped for this SF card.
Anderson Silva is my favorite fighter, and I thought last night’s performance was perfect! I was very happy with the result. First off, he is pissed that Dana put him in such a stupid matchup, with a guy who did not deserve this fight, AT ALL!!!!!! If Dana wants Anderson to perform at his best, give him a tougher matchup. I don’t blame Anderson at all for taunting Maia and the UFC and all of the fans. It was classic, and I support it 100%. And when he thigh punched Maia, I about fell out of my seat laughing. I paid full price for this ppv, and couldn’t have been happier, especially with BJ Penn losing!! You guys don’t understand how disrespectful it was to give Silva this matchup, make him log all of these plane miles, and make him cut weight just to fight a 4th or 5th ranked 185-er, at best!
And to all of you who think the solution is putting him in the cage with GSP, you are in for a rude awakening. Put the fight at 170, and Anderson is going to be bigger, stronger, and just as fast as GSP. Put it at 185 and same result. Catchweight, same result. It will be the same outcome as BJ trying to move up and fight GSP… Only one man in MMA can move up and fight top 3 talent at the next weightclass and be successful, and that is the Spider himself, A Silva. You guys who despise Silva have only one hope to watch him lose… and that is him moving up to HW and fighting Lesnar — and I think he picks him apart as well. Silva is the best P4P, and the best fighter overall, period. Last night was amazing. All of you are upset for him showing just how great he really is. He could have finished it if he wanted to, but he DIDN’T WANT TO…. He wanted to show Dana that he controls what goes on in there, and if he doesn’t step up his competitors, he will do it again!
GO SPIDER!
Well, it’s pretty clear that Silva won’t be headlining any PPVs. He may be lucky to even be on one. This horsesh!t he’s pulling can backfire greatly.
I propose this: If no one at 185 is “good enough” to face him, I say put him on a shelf until someone is – be that 1 year, 5 years, or 10 years. He can’t leave the UFC – champions clause in his contract. And if he isn’t getting work, maybe he’ll adjust his attitude. And if not, there will be a hungry competitor ready to take on a horribly ring-rusted Silva.
Or, take his belt and tell him he’s now at 205. Lots of good fights there. And unless he throws one(and subsequently loses his ability to be licensed in the US for fights when the local AC bans him), he will have have to face one of his good friends (Lil Nog and Machida).
dbiz, why the hell would the ac ban him? For being cocky? Give me a break! No they should put him on the shelf for 1,5 or 10 years! You don’t make sense at all.
An AC would ban anyone for throwing a fight. Putting him on the shelf is only to hit him in the wallet.
I’ve mentioned over on one of the forum threads that Dana should essentially put Anderson Silva’s career on pause, and leave him there until he’s so broke that he can’t pay attention…
All Silva proved was that he is a tosser, to even talk about Maia disrespecting him was laughable. At least Maia showed showed some heart. I wish the spider would scuttle away and hide for a very long time after that pathetic performance.
Fedor, Lesnar, GSP, Frank Mir, Shane Carwin, Rampage (if he is smart enough to take him down),
All guys that would rock silvas world. Seriously this bad excuse for a fighter deserves to fight fedor. He will get destroyed by fedor. 205, 185 (if fedor can make that) it doesn’t matter fedor wins by sub or tko in round one. Silva has good striking but is extremely overrated. The fact is there isn’t anyone who is very good in his weight class. If maia had good takedowns he would be, but no one else is that good. He would get beat by any of the guys listed above.
Is it Spider’s fault or the UFC for giving him such an outclassed opponent? Perhaps if one cannot find/lose a proper contender, one should just call off the fight instead of finding a 3rd string replacement.
Seriously, this isn’t TUF where can get almost anyone available and make a go of it – it’s title fight.
I blame the UFC.
I agree with you michaelt, they should have just waited for Vitor, not put “all heart, no balls” in there.
chrisl, um Silva won, he did not throw the fight, it was ugly and weird, but didn’t throw the fight. So you not making much sense either.
Read what dbiz said again, he says if were to throw a fight at 205 he would subsequently be banned by any Athletic Commission. He never mentions anywhere in that sentence about this fight. The last paragraph is a hypothetical about Anderson at 205 NOT this fight.
Leave the illiterate masses to spew their drivel, then delete the comments that show what idiots they are.
ok GSP didn’t stand more than a min with Hardy because thats not his gameplan, Silva didn’t go to the mat with Maia because thats not his gameplan. So to say GSP stuck to his plan and say Silva didn’t is bull. But it takes 2 to fight Silva reached a peak at his career and does not wanna go in there and just KO someone. He wants a fight, to actually have to break a sweat. Maia wasn’t engaging in the fight. Think Silva was scared of getting dropped by Maia? for real, he wanted some action. So if there is no action in the fight he is gonna dance around show everyone this is a joke.
Im not sure if you watched the fight,,,but running should never be in ANY fighters gameplan. Thats what Silva did in rounds 4 and 5. So much to the point to where the ref had to warn him. Or did you fall asleep and miss that part of the fight?
yeah, plus in the post-fight interview Silva said himself that he didn’t know what got to him. he got “shocked” by Damian’s punches. so it certainly sounds like he didn’t “plan” it out.
nope watched it. but layin on someone like GSP did for 5 rds, only getting close to 2 submissions doesn’t impress me anymore than last night tho buddy. And Maia didn’t try from the start of the fight, he danced around too for all the rds. did u watch the fight???
If Anderson Silva was shocked by Damian Maia’s punches … then I’d say that he is certainly no match for GSP. But we will see =)
UFC fan, there are so many fight cards now because the sports depth has come such along ways. UFC can have 2 cards a month and have great fights every card. Im a real mma fan and dont get mad when theres not a knockout or whatever. Its also good to see fights go the distance because u get to see the fighters strategys play out.
i agree w what others have said, i think he was just showing that he controls what goes on in there. he wants top competition or hell be a clown, go ahead and give him GSP. at 170 GSP will be stronger than andy and i think hell be able to take him down. once hes got him down GSP will do what he does best (if hes careful of that black belt). if he cant get the takedown then he’ll def have a better shot on on the feet then Maia. let GSP land a couple shots like Maia did at the end. id like to see vitor vs. andy. idk how well the dancin will go w someone that quick and relentless….
come on now. 50-45?! what the f@ck was that guy watching?!?!?!
I never liked Anderson Silva, didn’t care how good he was, for exactly the reasons he demonstrated last night. He’s done the same thing a few times before. His attitude stinks – he was acting like an idiot. I am disgusted by him. If he’s the best, the champion, blah blah, and all those other things he tells himself during his most intimate moments with himself, then why oh why didn’t he finish the fight?
The judges should be able to take points off for inactivity.
Demian Maia stayed true to MMA despite his broken nose and kept trying. I am glad that he didn’t allow Silva’s taunts to distract him from his strategy. He is the real champion of the night – he showed heart, courage, endurance, respect.
M.
I wonder how much Dana now regrets letting Dan Henderson go because i believe once Belfort got injured he would have been the man to step up and fght Silva, and with that i dont believe we would be having this debate now but instead we would be talikng about a new champion and for a forthcoming match between Belfort and Henderson for the title instead
Im a huge MMA fan and i was never to over excited about this fight between maia and silva, my expectations where for silva to destroy him in the first maybe second round. After this fight silva lost a fan and maia gained one. Silva was so disrespectful it was almost like bullying. I can safely say the only time ill watch silva fight again is when i know his challenger can knock him out. He may be talented but he doesnt act like a champ!
What I find funny is Anderson claims Maia disrespected him, and his jujitsu, and this is why he pulled such a stunt. If Silva is so sensitive about another fighter questioning his jujitsu skills, why didn’t he make a bigger statement by submitting Maia if he felt so strong about it? Hell, Dan Hardy kept pointing out that GSP’s stand up was no match for him, but that didn’t cause GSP to break dance all over Dan Hardy and act like a clown. He admitted his strategy was to go where Hardy was weakest and had no problem with Hardy’s comments. Silva needs to grow up. If he feels he needs more of a challenge, then he should try and use these other skills (aka: his AMAZING jujitsu that should NEVER be disrespected in his warped mind!) and show off his multiple talents, instead of simply showing us his utter disrespect for the sport of MMA with taunting and childish mannerisms.
Dana White should feed him to Brock Lesnar or Shane Carwin simply to force some humility on him…I’m sure breaking into dance before those beasts would involve taking a serious beat-down!
tell that same thing to chuck… tell chuck to use his wrestling tell him to roll on the ground aint gonna happen
Kind of funny how everyone EXCEPT Silva is apologizing…
And how would that apology drop?
Silva : “Ed, tell the ignorant masses that underwrite my lifestyle I think they should go fu<k themselves to death if they no longer wish to bathe in my sweat and worship me as the MMA god that I am!"
Soares : “While Anderson is disappointed that the 112 main event wasn’t what we’d hoped, we want you to blame everyone BUT us and give us yet ANOTHER pass while still supporting our sponsors so they don’t drop us…”
gee maybe thats the problem? maybe anderson has been given pass’s
but if anything i bet the apology would be more like:
im sorry for not beating maia into an unrecognisable pulp, i knew he wasnt a worthy opponent and i acted out of line. the next challenger i face will do my best to defeat him. (of course hes gotta be a challenge)
–Why would UFC reward Silva with arguably the biggest fight in MMA history (against GSP)?
–The difference between the recent GSP title defense and Silva’s was GSP was trying to finish the fight all five rounds. No one can argue that Silva was committed to finishing the fight.
–Didn’t Silva apologize for the last time he conducted himself like this and say ‘he wouldn’t do it again’?
–I’d forgotten that Cote looked to be well matched against Silva until his leg gave way.
–Maia was berated and baited into getting out of his game plan, but showed tremendous composure in not getting caught up in Silva’s trap. At least Maia gave a plausible reason for not being more aggressive in the first two rounds. Silva has no excuse for behaving like he did.
–Didn’t Anderson say he was planning to retire? Please do it today, I respect your talents but have no interest in watching you fight anymore.
BTW was i the only one who noticed that Silva didnt have tape wrapped around his gloves
No you weren’t, never seen that happen either. That’s a big mistake by the officials. I think it was an oversight but some people’s heads will roll.
Well spotted, Brent.
I didn’t notice that until the third time I watched the fight, around 4AM this morning when my pain meds wore off and my sleep was killed off like the 112 main event…
At the end of the day Dana White is a very astute business man, how many PPV fights will the UFC sell with Silva as top of the bill? The only person this will damage will be AS and his pocket.
Some one with his talent, but shows so little respect for the sport and his opponent should be stripped of his title and made to fight for it again.
worst show of sportsmanship I’ve seen in a long time and this is the 3rd time he’s did this at MW. Dana should just make him sit at home and watch how fighters with class do it until he comes back with a new attitude and is ready to actually fight again.
I give a lot of respect to Maia because even though that he may not be the best striker as Silva may be. I think he prepared himself enough for him to last through the rounds. Though the weather was against that he may not have the best chance to submit Silva, the fact that he tried exchanging strikes with Silva was honorable. More than Silva being prideful and emotional and I think timid in going into Maia fight plan that was going into the ground and submitting him. I think Silva knew if it win to the ground he would have got tapped out. More respect for Maia in this fight though I still am a fan of Silva with his striking. But I loss a bit of respect for him when he showed fear in going into the ground.
so you must have virtually no respect for chuck who never goes to the ground…
why does silva not going to the ground make you lose respect for him? he stuck to his game plan and maia stuck to his ” im not gonna throw punches lame plan”
I think they should take points away for unsportsmanlike conduct, you should also lose points for failing to engage. guys like Brock Lesnar and Josh Koschek can be disrespectful jerks, but only outside of the ring, when they get in the ring they are there to fight and win, not humiliate their opponents and disrespect the fans. Silva may be the best middleweight out there, but it counts for nothing if nobody wants to watch him fight or if nobody wants to employ him, Dana should let him out of his contract so he can go box, UFC doesn’t need him.
So Brock Lesnar “riding” Heath Herring like a Bronc during a fight in the Octagon is “respect” hmmm doubtful..
Anderson just signed a 8 fight extension (so be the rumor) and trust me Anderson Silva is wanted in the UFC, if they decided to cut Anderson Silva wow that would be an epic mistake, the matchups that are out there for him goodness no the UFC doesn’t want that not one bit.
I think it’s hilarious how people are saying anderson silva was
running the wole fight. I guess some of didn’t happen to see how
battered maia’s face was after the fight. Put him in the ring with
a worthy opponent and you will see him work his magic.
I wouldn’t mind seeing Silva fight Nick Diaz. Before you laugh think about it. Solid chin, one of the best boxers in MMA, sick jits,good takedowns, badass attitude and loves to showboat as much as silva. I think it would be a decent fight. Dana should think about signing him again in my opinion.
Diaz got outboxed by KJ Noons, and you think Silva couldn’t do the same thing?
when diaz stops the chron and can actually have breath
Diaz has excellent cardio, despite the chron, he regularly competes in Triathalons, you can’t do that if you’re not in shape.
lol… triathalons compared to mma BIG difference… when you hit the “wall” in a triathalon the only thing keeping you going is your will power to push through it…
As opposed to MMA where the only thing keeping you from going for a poorly executed takedown and giving up your neck to a guillotine to get out of the fight because you’re gassed is…. your will power to push through it… yeah, great job arguing that one.
Not to mention, have you seen Diaz run out of gas any time recently? I haven’t.
Justin is channeling his inner dbiz.
Silva is making history. Doing what Mohamed Ali did in his day. Just an extreme version. Just wait and see years fom now this will be part of his story where they will say how great he was. He directing his own script and in the end it may make him look like a genius. Looks terrible now but who knows what he plans next. This could just be an Andy Kaufman approach to greatness.
According to the current UFC rules, when a fight goes to the ground and the fighters reach a stalemate, or do not work to improve their position, the referee stands them both back up and starts the fight again. I suggest making another change – when the fighters are standing and don’t engage the fight, the referee first gives a warning, but then deducts points, or even restarts the fight on the ground. There must be a rule change if the UFC wants to stop fighters like Silva from running around and not engaging the fight. At minimum, the judges must give more points to fighters who are being aggressive and take points away from fighters who don’t engage.