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UFC 148: Dana White Had To Work Hard (And Pay) To Convince Anderson Silva To Fight In

5K views 58 replies 26 participants last post by  JWP 
#1 ·
Anderson Silva was expecting to rematch Chael Sonnen at UFC 147 in Brazil, but a series of snags, culminating in a United Nations conference that was going to cause logistical issues resulted in the fight being moved to UFC 148 in Las Vegas. According to a story on Fighters Only Magazine, Silva wasn't thrilled to not be able to try to shut Chael's mouth in his home country, but it sounds like money and a plea from Dana was enough to change his mind.

From the story:


It took the UFC president 75 minutes to convince him to fight Chael Sonnen in Las Vegas instead of Rio de Janeiro and this was the reason for the press conference delay yesterday, reports Gustavo Noblat of OGlobo.com.

...

The champion was frustrated and insisted on fighting in Brazil. Anderson told Dana that Sonnen had been disrespectful with him, his family and all the Brazilian. "He deserves to taught a lesson here, I owe this to my people", repeated Silva. But Dana was adamant. "If there is no way how to make the event in a stadium, it has to be in Las Vegas," said the company president.

...

He spoke about the potential of the Pay-per-view sales it would generate and in the end, he guaranteed a good percentage of the pay-per-view share to Anderson. As with so many things in life, money talks louder than anything.

It's a little bit hard for me to believe that Dana flew in for a press conference, with printed materials and a plan to speak to the media but was still trying to work out the details with Silva backstage before the fight.



That said, it's not a stretch to think that Silva had major reservations about having to travel once again to defend his title and not have the honor of taking care of business in Brazil.

In the end, it's really about what's best for business. If it's going to be easier to draw a bigger gate in Vegas without the logistical nightmares that the UN conference was presenting, that's the right call. The fight should do good business on PPV and giving Silva a bigger than normal cut of the PPV cash is a reasonable way to make up the difference.

It sounds like Silva is also upset with IMX, the company that promotes the Brazilian UFC events. Statements in the article suggest that Silva is blaming them for the poor organization that led to the event falling apart.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/4/27/2980020/ufc-148-anderson-silva-chael-sonnen-vegas-brazil
 
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#2 ·
Yeah. Sonnen could care less where the fight is, he just wants to kick Andersons ass. Anderson should not waist his time on where the fight takes place and just show up amd fight.

Shit happens and the UFC has to do what they have to do. You would think that a veteran like AS would understand that. Or is he just being a diva.
 
#4 ·
YEAH, Anderson wants a chance to fight in his home town and give them the satisfaction of seeing him beat Chael (AGAIN) and he is a diva. But Chael runs around whinning about how he never lost as is this phantom MW champion...and ANDERSON is the DIVA?????:confused02:
 
#3 ·
I can't believe the UFC didn't manage to plan around a friggin UN conference... Seems like this was all just a bait and switch to hype up the fight.
 
#9 ·
I think the whole thing was staged from day 1 as well.... Really the UFC didn't know about a United Nations meeting..Get Real?!?!? They used the whole Chael going to Brazil for Media Hype...Chael and the UFC Pussed out..and the fight is now in the States...:thumbsup:
 
#7 ·
Don't matter where...but something about Goldberg announcing "we're here live at the SOLD OUT MGM" that generates so much buzz for me.

It's time...
 
#13 ·
He's not really polarizing. Most people either suck his balls at every turn or don't care one bit about him. I fall into the latter category.

I don't give a shit about what some nerd with a ghost writer has to say....show me you can defend a triangle choke and beat Michael Bisping convincingly without gassing and then I might care about him.
 
#16 · (Edited by Moderator)
You know your post is not how everyone feels as many also hate him and proves that rather than not care about him you do in fact hate him. Thanks for helping to prove my point. :thumb02:

I get it - still not my cup of tea though ;)

As for Dana having to convince AS to move the match - of course he had to. AS has the most to lose here:

- His title
- He already beat the guy once
- He was expecting to have a record setting audience cheering him on, now he'll probably get booed by people who buy into Chael's gimmick too much
- Headlining the biggest UFC event ever would also have attracted bigger sponsors and meant more money, that goes for both Chael and AS

:)

BTW Roflcopter - what you just described is exactly what polarizing is ;)
Again. Im not saying AS should not be upset, but at the end of the day he is a fighter, he goes into a cage and fights and gets paid. Just do it.

And on the GSP fighting in Canada topic, Im sure it is a lot easier to arange fights and reserve a venue in Canada than it is in Brazil.
 
#18 ·
Does it really matter where you fight?

Sounds like Anderson being a baby about losing his home field advantage and having to deal with the fact Sonnen won't fold like Belfort and Okami.
 
#26 ·
I would be pissed if I was promised a chance to fight in front of 60,000 of my countrymen, then told that it's not going to happen because my boss doesn't know how to plan properly.
 
#20 ·
Again, more senseless implications. I bet you could count the number of "Sonnen haters" on this forum on one hand.

Indifference =/= disdain.

If anything, most posters here dislike the grossly over-exaggerated nuthugging his 12 or so fans do anytime the guy does an interview....but it really isn't that much of an issue. The real issue is whether or not people think he's going to beat Silva or not.

The dude is nothing like Fedor was...Fedor was a polarizing figure. Jones is a polarizing figure.

Sonnen is just some dude who caught a good streak towards the end of his career and hired some dude to help him market himself.
 
#23 ·
Wow. For someone who says they dont hate Sonnen, they just dont care about him you sure do have some strong feelings about the guy.

Im not sure if you're just arguing for the sake of arguing or you truly have not clue about branding and marketing, or business in general.

Do you not think that Anderson would benefit from having his name plastered all over the place in brazil, as they try to sell out 50+ thousand seats, would not help his brand? You do not understand that selling out a venue in a city means A LOT more advertising dollars in the city than they will ever put into trying to sell a PPV in Las Vegas?

If these things confuse you, we should not continue this conversation.

Also, as for Chael being 'smart' with his gimmick, I guess the intelligent thing about it is that he panders to those easily amused and to the somewhat closeted racists. There are millions of them so if/when he makes a buck on every single one of them, that makes him a very smart millionaire.
Not sure what you are talking about with the closeted racist comment. Maybe its just ignorance on your part.

Also, what is plastering AS name all over Brazil do? It would sell a lot of tickets, but would not make him much more popular in Brazil as Im sure he is probobly the most popular MMA fighter there. Sure selling out a venue helps a persons brand, but when was the last time a card with AS did not sell out regardless of where it is. He should sell out in Brazil, Him selling out a venue in Australia is more telling about his brand than selling out in Brazil.

Im sure the UFC was looking forward to using Anderson to make a lot of money in Brazil and probobly to generate more PPV buys as the fact that SOnnen was fighting AS in Brazil was becoming a much anticipated moment.
 
#22 ·
Here's the bad part about having the UFC in all these different countries now. Now you get a champ who is dominant and marketable and he holds the company ransom to fight outside of his comfort zone. I don't have a lot of respect for that attitude. I highly doubt a guy like GSP demands to fight in Canada and would hold the UFC ransom if he had to fight in Vegas.

With that said, Anderson agreed to fight in Brazil for this fight so the UFC had to do something to accomodate for this fight.
 
#27 ·
Fighting in Brazil was one of the major selling points for the rematch and I'm sure the event could have been rescheduled a week or two or even a month.

My guess is UFC just wanted the fight in Vegas and the UN crap was their excuse. At this point in Anderson's career he needs to be more vocal and hold his ground against Dana.

I would have gouged the shit out of them.
 
#33 ·
Ah, I love when people mention the Cote fight as a slight on Silva because then I can immediately discern that they are retarded.

I'm also amused that people repeatedly bring up the Leites fight yet I don't quite here the same rumblings about Alistair's performance against Werdum.

At least Anderson didn't gas in the Leites fight.
 
#41 ·
I don't get why non silva fans have a hard time understanding why he might be mad at the venue change.

Simply put:
-He is at home, gets to see his family
-Does not have to travel to train
-Fighting in his country (sense of pride)

Also why are people giving Anderson heat for questionably putting the event in jeopardy, when it was in fact Chael Sonnen who delay the rematch by getting suspended. This fight was suppose to happen early 2011. Say what you want about Silva's objection , but when he was fighting Vitor and Okami it was Chael SOnnen ass that was sitting at home. Had he been clean Silva would have fought him ages ago in a rematch.
 
#51 ·
SIlva is being a cry baby who cares if its Brazil or America at the end of the day its the same cage , the same guy and the same things at stake.

The only reason i can see him getting butt hurt for is because maybe he wont get a home town decision in the US like he mostly likely would in Brazil and seeing as Sonnen will probably take the fight to a decision that would benefit Silva for obvious reasons.
 
#53 ·
Im no major anderson nuthugger but he should have the right to fight in his own country after everything he has contributed to the ufc and mma. im sure anderson wanted to beat sonnen for the second time in front of his own people and make the trt abusing twat look a dick again. As it transpires he has to defend again in the u.s so why shouldnt he screw abit more dough out of dana its not as if the ufc/zuffa cant afford it.
 
#54 ·
Im no major anderson nuthugger but he should have the right to fight in his own country after everything he has contributed to the ufc and mma. im sure anderson wanted to beat sonnen for the second time in front of his own people and make the trt abusing twat look a dick again. As it transpires he has to defend again in the u.s so why shouldnt he screw abit more dough out of dana its not as if the ufc/zuffa cant afford it.
UFC 134, Silva vs. Okami. He already got his fight at home, he needs to suck it up, stop complaining and work on his TDD.
 
#57 ·
I gotta say, I sorta understand where Anderson is coming from.

This is the, or at least one of the biggest fights of his career. The rematch everybody wants to see. Aside from the disrespect Sonnen has shown Brazil and whatnot, this could very well be Silva's last fight as he's getting up there in age.

If I was considered the best fighter on the planet, after all was said and done, I'd love nothing more then to end my career, fighting my biggest adversary, in my home town. I imagine that would truly be an honor.
 
#58 · (Edited)
I actually like Chael's brand of trash talk. It's unique. It not so much that he attacks the other guy, but rather he denies them the respect they think they deserve. If you're a humble guy, Chael's rhetoric isn't going to phase you. If your proud and have a huge ego, well, it's not going to be fun. He'll basically prod you endlessly, denying everything you believe about yourself, using well timed humor. The guy is just good at it.

Pretending to sleep during a press conference, for example. Priceless.

Anderson need's to get his act together quick. He's losing the mental game bigtime right now. And now he's no longer going to be in his own backyard with everyone having his back.
 
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