What’s the greatest MMA staredown ever?
Hard to pick the one greatest staredown ever. There’s been many times where you’re just amazed by the venom inside both of the fighters’ eyes and hatred for one another, but if I was forced to pick one I’d pick the staredown between Mirko CroCop Filipovic and Wanderlei Silva when they met for the first time in Pride FC. These two captured the essence of hate, anger, disdain, wrath, rage and a whole of bunch of horrifying adjectives which are the precursor to some serious violence. It was a beautiful moment showing the calm before the storm in the ring.
Wanderlei Silva birthday party open & free to all fans
It’s pretty amazing how such a crazed beast inside the cage can be such a warm and fan friendly personality. But Wanderlei Silva is such a generous fighter with fans it’s really incredible. I had a lot of respect for Silva but this video of him underneath defending the right for his fans at the UFC Fan Expo to take pictures with him, even though there was a mile long lineup of Wanderlei enthusiasts still waiting for their chance to take a shot and get something signed by the Brazilian. I’d imagine most athletes or celebrities would have understandably taken the out that this lady was giving Silva to save him some time, but he pushed and fought hard to make sure that every fan got a chance to not only get an autograph and also a picture with the former Pride FC Middleweight champ.
If any fans happen to be in the area and can make this event I’d recommend it. If you’re a fan of Wanderlei, meeting him in person would only increase that support you have for the UFC middleweight/light-heavyweight. Sometimes you walk away from celebrities somewhat dissapointed by their non-interest for their fanbase, but with Silva he seems to perennially have a genuine monster smile and ultra-positive attitude whenever I have witnessed any fan-fighter interaction between himself and the legion of supporters he has garnerned across the globe.
Wanderlei Silva out of UFC 116, delivers Video Blog Message to fans
Wanderlei Silva talks about the unfortunate series of events that happened at the last weeks of his camp in preparation to fight Yoshihiro Akyiama at UFC 116 on Wanderlei’s birthday July 3. He talks about his injuries, upcoming surgeries, and ask for support from his fans.
Wanderlei Silva Off UFC 116 due to rib injury
MMAfighting reports Wanderlei Silva has been forced to withdraw from his fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116:
Wanderlei Silva, who was scheduled to meet Yoshihiro Akiyama at UFC 116 on July 3, has been forced to withdraw from the card due to fractured ribs suffered in training, UFC president Dana White confirmed with MMA Fighting Tuesday afternoon.
Akiyama, who defeated Alan Belcher in his UFC debut last July, will still fight on the card, and according to White, the organization is currently working on signing his replacement. No word just yet on who that might be.
Silva (33-10-1) is 2-3 inside the octagon. He most recently defeated Michael Bisping at UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia.
Cain Velasquez and Wanderlei Silva prevail at UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia
In the main event of UFC 110, the Australian were treated to a spectacular finish from a future heavyweight champion in Cain Velasquez. The Mexican-American menace at heavyweight outstuck Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with kicks and punches and threw full force into his fists. He caught his Brazilian opponent with a nice combination that sent Big Nog to the floor. Nogueira has been floored on various occasions in his career, and finds a way to pull through every time, aside from his bout with Frank Mir. But it was quite evident that after Nog his the mat that it was only inevitable that the ultra-aggressive and motivated Velasquez was poised to finish off the MMA heavyweight legend. Velasquez followed suit and KO’d Nogueira in an incredible display of fighting which sent a huge message to all top heavyweights in the game–Cain Velasquez is at the very top of the heap in the division of big men. I could envision Velasquez winning the fight, but not in the fashion he did. Several takedowns and ground and pound peppered in every round and a victory via points was who I could see Velasquez winning, but in the standup realm I thought the vast boxing experience of Nogueira in the game would give him the edge. But Velasquez has obviously worked really hard on his striking–his kicks are very quick, accurate and powerful, and his strikes crisp, thrown in effective combinations and with terrifying force. Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir and Shane Carwin all will make for interesting fights for Velasquez, and the Mexican-American fighter will take on one of these three most likely in the late part of this year or early 2011.
Also in action at UFC 110, Wanderlei Silva got back on the winning track and successfully defeated Michael Bisping via unanimous decision, 29-28 on all scorecards. Bisping looked great in the first round and won the stanza, however the 2nd and 3rd belonged to “The Axe Murderer”, who was close to choking out the British brawler at the end of round 2 and knocking him out at the end of round 3.
Ryan Bader scored a vicious KO over Keith Jardine, and the former All-American wrestler displayed excellent striking prowess against a very durable and unorthodox standup artist in Jardine.
Australian native George Sotiropoulous put on the performance of lifetime as he handily defeated Joe Stevenson via decision. He outstruck, out-Jiu-Jitsued and at times outwrestled the wiley and tough Stevenson much to the satisfaction to a boisterous Sydney crowd at the Acer Arena.
