Recently in Wanderlei Silva Category

By mmajunkie.com
A rumored bout between Wanderlei Silva (32-10-1 MMA, 2-5 UFC) and Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) is apparently set for UFC 110, which takes place Feb. 21 at Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia.

Silva discussed the fight openly in a recent video his camp posted on YouTube.

According to Silva, the middleweight bout serves as the headline fight for the event, which takes place on a rare Sunday (with an apparent live Saturday broadcast in the U.S.).

Gotta love the wisdom of Wand: "Only the fighter who persists to the end, gets to the top ...Many guys that I knew gave up, guys who were better than me. My only difference is that I persisted and continued trying."

Here's a photo I'm told is untouched and lo and behold, it looks like the photo below that is labeled "fake." Mystery solved, my friends.

I do know that Wanderlei Silva did in fact have facial surgery, to repair years of scar tissue build-up and to repair his nose, which had been broken repeatedly. Silva and Bisping were scheduled to fight at an upcoming UFC in England, but Bisping blogged recently that the fight was off, due to Wand's surgery. Still, the question remains - which pic is real, which is fake, or are they both photoshopped? I have no idea, I'm just here to add fuel to the fire ...

Hey, let me squish your cauliflower ear ...

Fighters Only, a great MMA magazine from England, which has recently made inroads into the U.S., has some cool shots of Wanderlei Silva, Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture. Click here to see more. Interesting how Randy beat Chuck once, and then Chuck won their next two, and also has a UD win over Wand. Randy and Wand never fought, but have trained together at Randy's Xtreme Couture academy in Las Vegas.

Look for Mauricio "Shogun" Rua and one of the Nogs (must be Big, 'cause Lil is not with the UFC) toward the end of the video.

The latest video from Wand Fight Team. Wand - fresh from his fight with Franklin (cuts on his nose and ear) trains his team and gives them a heartfelt psych-up, complete with a classic Chute Boxe-like cheer at the end.

Nice shot. Wanderlei has asked for a rematch and I'd like to see it - at 205. Looks like it won't happen, since Dana White wants Franklin to take a run at the LHW title and Wandy to drop down to 185. ... Hey, here's another one: how about Silva vs. Liddell II? Man, that first one was a war. We'll see what's next for both fighters - I'll keep you updated.

Here's the description written on his youtube channel: "The Fight Camp" is a Documentary Feature Film about the legendary, mixed martial arts fighter Wanderlei Silva, preparing for the greatest fight of his career in the UFC. Motivated by his loyal fans from around the world, and with the heavy burden of his last career loss, Wanderlei Silva like a true champion, overcomes all obstacles, to push forward through the toughest fight camp of his life.

To see the fight, click the red circle with the arrow in it, then click the green circle with the arrow in it. The video should play.

OFFICIAL RESULTS from mmajunkie.com:

Rich Franklin def. Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Cain Velasquez def. Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic def. Mustapha Al-Turk via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:47
Mike Swick def. Ben Saunders via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:47
Spencer Fisher def. Caol Uno via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Dan Hardy def. Marcus Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Terry Etim def. Justin Buchholz via submission (D'Arce choke) -- Round 2
Denis Siver def. Dale Hartt via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1
Paul Taylor def. Peter Sobotta by unanimous decision
Paul Kelly def. Roli Delgado via unanimous decision
Stefan Struve def. Denis Stojnic via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 2:37
John Hathaway def. Rick Story via unanimous decision

Just watched the weigh-ins for UFC 99: The Comeback, and since I can't find a video that will allow me to pirate it and put it up here, I'll give you the highlights:

Couple of shoving matches in the undercard. Denis Stojnic and Stefan "The Skyscraper" Struve squared up and got really, really close. Stojnic - maybe feeling a little bit uncomfortable at that point - pushed Struve, which prompted Joe Rogan to say, "First I thought they were gonna make-out, then a fight breaks out."

Then we had Roli Delgado and Paul Kelly. Joe Rogan said Delgado had an "epic beard" and called him the "Crazy Jew-ban" which I'm guessing is a reference to his mixed heritage. Anyway, it was Delgado with a push on Kelly after the two went forehead-to-forehead.

The crowd gave its biggets pop for the return of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, who is fighting Mostapha Al-Turk. It'll be very interetsing to see if Cro Cop can channel some of that left high kick magic from days gone by.

Marcus Davis, who has engaged in a pre-fight war of words with Dan Hardy, looked to be in his best shape ever. I guess he really was motivated for this fight, having said he spends a considerable amount fo time each day thinking about how much he hates Hardy. We'll see if his condition plays a role tomorrow. Surprisingly, the two had an uneventful stare-down.

In another version of the ol' grappler vs. striker match-up, French kickboxer Cheick Kongo and collegiate wrestling sensation Cain Velasquez weighed in and squared off. Kongo stuck his face in Velasquez's, but unlike when he squared off with Al-Turk, he didn't jab his head in there like he was gonna head-butt him. Maybe it was something in Velasquez's eyes, although I don't know if that's going to prevent Kongo from throwing his patented nut-shots. Let's hope Cain is ready.

Finally, Wanderlei Silva and Rich Franklin weighed in. Silva was very tight, Franklin looked about the same. I truly believe this fight could go either way. People talk about how Silva is old, but Franklin is about two years older than him. Silva has more losses, and has been knocked a few times, but Franklin was destroyed by Anderson Silva twice and knocked out by Lyoto Machida a while back. We'll see. I like both fighters, so it sucks they have to fight, because someone's gonna lose.

After a heartfelt message to all his fans, Wand gets back to the snorkel training at about 4:30 in this video.

I think it's a good idea. Wanderlei, who's coming off a loss to Rampage, is moving down to middleweight and has a main event fight against Rich Franklin at the next UFC, which is 99, in Germany.

McFedries, who's been hot and cold in his UFC career, just absolutely destroyed Xavier Foupa-Pokam at UFC 98.

Both of these guys - Wanderlei and McFedries only know one thing - push forward and bang. It would be an all-out war until someone drops.

here's wanderlei's latest video, Knockout Secrets

McFedries vs. Foupa-Pokam FOR THIS VIDEO, JUST ENTER THIS SEQUENCE, 73433, IN THE BOX AND THEN CLICK THE BENT ARROW TO THE RIGHT. THE VIDEO SHOULD PLAY.

Former friends, now enemies: W. Silva and A. Silva

from Fighters Only:
Wanderlei Silva has told Anderson Silva to put his money where is mouth is ahead of his UFC 99 fight with Rich Franklin.

The two Silvas have had a war of words outside the Octagon since Anderson stated his thoughts about Wanderlei dropping to the 185lbs category on Sensei SporTV, calling the move "pretentious". Since then both have created a tough environment and speculation about a match has grown as they fire verbally at one another.

The latest episode of the series was the announcement of an Anderson Silva/Rich Franklin camp ahead of Franklin's fight with Wanderlei at UFC 99.

The Axe Murderer today shot back: "If Anderson believes in Franklin so much, bet U$ 50,000 and let's see who takes the money".

Frank Mir Interested In Coaching Brock Lesnar Down The Road

from mmanews.com:
From an interview with MMAWeekly.com, interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir tells the site down the line he would like to coach heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar. The two are set to decide the rightful heavyweight king in July at UFC 100:

"I think that a lot of people realize that he was only 1-1, he had a .500 record in the UFC when he got a title shot.... I know at the end I'm going to be able to get a hold of him.

New video just posted of Wanderlei Silva being put through a gauntlet by trainer Rafael Alejarra in preparation for his UFC 99 fight with Rich Franklin.

Thanks to profighting-fans.com for the pics.

For those who don't know, Anderson Silva and Wanderlei Silva were longtime teammates on the Brazilian MMA team known as Chute Boxe. Apparently, they were cool with each other for many years, but now that Wanderlei has announced he will be moving down to middleweight, where A. Silva is king, there's reportedly some bad blood brewing. Of course, the other interesting thing is that A. Silva beat Franklin twice - really, destroyed him twice _ the first time taking Franklin's UFC middleweight belt.

The rivalry between former Chute Boxe teammates heats up. Here's what happened before this video.

by Marcelo Alonso for sherdog.com :
Saturday, 5:00 a.m. ET: Anderson Silva discussed former teammate Wanderlei Silva's move to 185 pounds last week, calling it "pretentious." Wanderlei hasn't taken too kindly to Anderson's remarks.

"I thought it was excellent being quoted by the champion without having had a fight in (Anderson's) division," Wanderlei told Sherdog.com. "It's a sign that I'm already bothering him. Nobody kicks a tree that is not able to give fruits."

Wanderlei also criticized Anderson for discussing Chute Boxe training sessions.

Could we see this before A. Silva retires? For now, we have Anderson Silva taking on Thales Leites at UFC 97 and Wanderlei Silva fighting Rich Franklin at UFC 99.

By Marcelo Alonso, sherdog.com:
They have the same surname, grew up in the same Brazilian city and trained together for years at Chute Boxe. But things have changed, and destiny has put Wanderlei Silva and Anderson Silva on different sides.

"I always helped Wanderlei in training," Anderson explained in a November 2007 interview with Tatame magazine. "We were really close."

Anderson eventually left Chute Boxe, though, and in the Tatame interview he said that the team's coach, Rudimar Fedrigo, forbid him from fighting in Pride, where Wanderlei was a champion.

"Wanderlei didn't say anything to help me," Anderson said. "He even knew that I had four children to raise. If it were not for 'Minotauro' putting pressure and bringing me to Pride, I would certainly be retired."

Robert K of free fight videos passed along this account of UFC 99 press conference in Germany:
Dana White, Lorenzo Fertitta and leading German concert promoter Marek Lieberberg were all part of the UFC 99 press conference in the city of Cologne in preparation for the first ever UFC event in Germany. Randy Couture, Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva rounded out the UFC contingent present at the Lanxess Arena.

"UFC 99: The Comeback" will be headlined by catch weight bout between Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva. The card will take place at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne on Saturday, June 13. Also set participate are Cain Velasquez, Heath Herring, Caol Uno, Spencer Fisher and Ben Saunders. Mirko Cro Cop has indicated that he is a possibility for the event however his name was not mentioned during the press conference.

The media coverage was surprisingly big. Every major media outlet was present for this historic moment. .

Randy Couture alongside German fighters Dennis Siver and Peter Sobotta conducted a brief MMA 101 class for the German press. Couture's knowledge of the German language came in handy throughout. The former heavyweight champion later conducted several interviews with German TV and print media.

from mmaweekly.com:
The Ultimate Fighting Championship is set to make its German debut on June 13 at the Lanxess Arena in Cologne. While several fights have been rumored for the event over the past couple of months, most have not come to fruition.

MMAWeekly.com on Wednesday, however, was able to confirm through multiple independent sources that former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin and former Pride 205-pound champion Wanderlei Silva have agreed to fight each other at UFC 99.

Franklin has fought his last two bouts at light heavyweight, returning to the division after running into a brick wall named Anderson Silva at middleweight. Even though Wanderlei Silva's fights in the UFC have all been at 205-pounds to this point, he has made public his intention of wanting to move down to the 185-pound division.

from themmafiend.com
In the days after his brual KO loss to Rampage Jackson, there was speculation by many that Wanderlei Silva would be dropping down from 205 lbs to 185. Well, now the speculation can be put to rest:

Wanderlei Silva has made it official that he will be moving down to Middleweight for his next fight. It is still unknown if he will stay there for certain, but his next fight will be at 185lbs.

ESPN's Franklin McNeil first broke the news on ESPN's MMA live, and sources surrounding the fighter have confirmed this from Brazilian Sports News wire.

I just watched the UFC 92 weigh-ins on msn sports. Let's get right to the grudge match of the night, Wanderlei Silva vs. Rampage Jackson:

Wanderlei came out first, had his head shaved, and looked cut. He weighed in at 203. Then Rampage came out, and he looked pretty cut too, much better than his fight with Griffin, and weighed in at 206.

Then came time for the stare-down, and you just knew sparks were gonna fly. The get about three inches from each other, maybe less, and Wanderlei starts with his classic stare-down, moving his head back and forth, his eyes boring into Rmapage. Rampage is smiling, and then he says something to Wanderlei, who then shoves him and I believe, then walks off the stage.

The camera focuses on Rampage, who faces the crowd, does the throat slash, and then the thumbs-down sign.

Joe Rogan then said, "I'll tell you what, ladies and gentlemen, that is going to be a crazy fight!"

So we've got some pre-fight fireworks, just as everyone expected - Wanderlei trying to intimidate Rampage, Rampage trying to get inside Wanderlei's head, even though he's lost to the guy twice. So, was Rampage's psych-out thing just a cover for the doubts he has going into the fight? Who knows. Did Rampage's antics have an effect on Wanderlei, maybe get him steaming through the night, making him use up valuable energy? Again, we'll see tomorrow night.

On to the rest of the weigh-ins for the main card:

-- Mike Massenzio, 184 vs. CB Dollaway, 186.
-- Mustapha Al-Turk, 237 vs. Chiek Kongo, 233. Kongo did a head-thrust toward Al-Turk as they squared off, but Al-Turk seemed unfazed.
-- Frank MIr, 251 vs. Antonio Minotauro Nogueira, 246.
-- Rashad Evans, 203 vs. Forrest Griffin, 205. The two had a very respectful stare-donw, shaking eachother's hands a couple times.

This one traces pretty much their entire history, from PRIDE to the UFC.

This one looks at the Chute Boxe-Hammer House rivalry in PRIDE, plus Wanderlei-Rampage, to the tune of the movie 300's music and words.

This comes from sherdog.com member "Bowpon Mihooda" don't ask me what that means ... God, I hope it's not some major curse in a foreign language. ... Anyway, although I am a Wanderlei Silva fan, I think this fight won't be easy for him. Despite Rampage's mental breakdown, despite him losing the title to Forrest, despite training overseas, despite Wanderlei's two previous wins over him, he is still a dangerous fighter. And this is MMA, anything can happen. But, even so, you wonder how Rampage sleeps at night:

Thanks to Tracy Lee from combatlifestyle.com

Rampage Jackson vs. Wanderlei Silva

Forrest Griffin vs. Rashad Evans

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Frank Mir

Now that's a photo: Three fighters in UFC 92's triple main event, training together: Wanderlei Silva, who fights Rampage Jackson in the sport's biggest grudge match, Forrest Griffin, who defends his LHW title against Rashad Evans and Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira, who defends his interim HW belt against Frank Mir.

from Wand's Web site:
Along with coaches Amaury Bitetti and Rodrigo Artilheiro, Rodrigo Minotauro set off this Friday (December 12) for Las Vegas, where the final of the eighth season of the The Ultimate Fighter reality show will take place. In the USA, Minota will only return after his December 27 challenge against Frank Mir. And for this UFC fight to determine who will challenge Brock Lesnar for the definitive UFC heavyweight belt, the Brazilian will count on a big-name buddy: Wanderlei Silva.

In the past the news would be hard to believe, since the two fighters belonged to teams with a fierce rivalry - BTT and Chute Boxe, - but the current MMA panorama makes it clear those days are gone. These days professionalism comes first and, as the two will go to battle on the same day (Wanderlei faces Quinton Jackson), so they decided nothing could be better than making a union between compatriots.

"We're going to be in the corners for the final fights of the TUF house. After the event, we'll stick around till Minotauro's fight," said coach Amaury Bitetti, who added:

"We should train at Wanderlei's gym, in Las Vegas, and use the structure he has set up there. Rafael Alejarra, who's a really cool guy, and Wanderlei himself invited us. We'll train together and put together a strategy. We'll be mostly swapping information," said Bitetti, who, when asked if Nog and Wand would be training together, responded:

"That's right. United we stand!"

from FightersOnly magazine:
Wanderlei Silva says he was approached with an offer to train under Juanito Ibarra for his forthcoming fight with Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson.

Ibarra was Jackson's coach and manager until the former light-heavyweight champion moved to the Wolfslair team following an acrimonious split.

Appearing on Brazil Combate TV yesterday, Silva said: "I've received a letter from someone offering training with Juanito to me, but I didn't care to accept it.

The letter "contained phone numbers that I could use to get in touch with Juanito, but I threw it away," he added.

"I think it's unethical to accept the former coach of my opponent, and if Juanito is doing this with Rampage, he may do the same with me later."

Silva and Jackson, who are long-standing rivals, will square off for a third time at UFC 92 on December 27th.

John Joe O'Regan

Click here to see the site.

I don't know much about betting, but looking at what the odds are on a fight can sometimes give you insight into how other people view the fights.

So, what I've picked up is that the guy with the "-" in front of his name is favored to win over the guy with the "+" in front of his name. You'd think it'd be the other way around. Anyway, here's something you don't see often - Silva and Jackson are even. As much as I like Wanderlei, I have to agree - the fight could go either way.

from mmamania.com:

Mir +225
Nog -350

Jackson -120
Silva -120

Griffin -150
Evans +110

An extended look at Nogueira-Mir, Griffin-Evans and Silva-Jackson.

This is a new video of Quinton "Rampage" Jackson training at Wolfslair in England for his UFC 92 fight with Wanderlei Silva. Some of the fanboys on the Internet have said Rampage looks and sounds "absent-minded" "dead tired" "on something" or "really focused." Knowing what he's been through the past few months, I'm not sure. But with all the training he's been doing, I guess at this point, I'll go with "tired." I don't know -- watch the video - you decide.

Rampage training at wolfslair in England

from Sherdog.com forums:
Ricky Hatton goes into this weekend's light welterweight boxing clash against Paulie Malignaggi in Las Vegas without the aid of long-time strength and nutrition coach Kerry Kayes. However, the Manchester conditioning coach has stayed in combat sports.

In addition to taking up a post as fitness consultant for Manchester City football club, Kayes has become a consultant for the Wolf's Lair MMA Academy in Runcorn, which is the home to elite UFC fighters Michael 'the Count' Bisping and Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson.

'Rampage' is currently deep into his training camp for his third collision with Wanderlei Silva at UFC 92 on December 27. After losing the two previous bouts in Japan, Jackson has enlisted former Team Hatton strength coach Kayes to maximize his preparations for his crucial bout at the MGM Grand at Christmas.

More snorkel-tastic fun!

This was for ESPN The Magazine. Besides the head honcho, there's Forrest Griffin, Stephan Bonnar, Randy Couture, and I think I caught a glimpse of Wanderlei Silva. And let's not forget the vivacious Arianny Celeste.

Here's some new stuff from the kings of MMA:

The Web site is up for UFC 92, which airs Dec. 27 and has three main events: Nogueira vs. Mir, Griffin vs. Evans and W. Silva vs. Jackson. See it here.

Also, several of the major MMA Web sites/blogs are reporting that the battle of two undefeated LHWs, Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva, has been rescheduled for UFC 94 on Jan. 31.

In addition, a possible match-up for UFC 95 on Feb. 21 is Anderson Silva vs. Chuck Liddell.

Wand's cage

Trainer Rafael Alejarra and Wand

from Silva's Web site:
Wanderlei Silva has started construction on the new Wand Fight Team Training & Conditioning Center! This brand-new, world-class facility will be housed in a 10,000sq ft building on Dean Martin Rd in the fight sport capital of the world, Las Vegas, NV.

Wanderlei has chosen THROWDOWN for it's training center design and construction services. Although the training center is in the early stages of construction, Wanderlei wanted his 30ft event series octagon installed so that he could train during the gym build out. The Throwdown Training Center team delivered and installed Wanderlei's octagon over the weekend, and he and strength & conditioning coach Rafael Alejarra (the man behind the "snorkel" workout) went to work immediately!

The Wand Fight Team Training & Conditioning Center is slated to be the home base to the top BJJ players & Brazilian fighters visiting Vegas. Robert Drysdale, Damian Maia, Jacare Souza, the Noguiera Bros are among those scheduled to train at Wand's new facility.

Brazilian MMA Web site tatame.com interviewed Wanderlei Silva's former trainer, Rafael Cordeiro, who said that Rampage Jackson tried to hire him - presumably to get an edge on Wandy in preparation for their third fight at UFC 92. Rampage should have known about Brazilian loyalty ...

Q: You were at Wandelei Silva's corner when he defeated Quinton Jackson twice at Pride... What are your predictions for this fight, now in UFC?

A:I'm sure it'll be another knockout. If Wanderlei shows the same game he always showed, he'll bring to Brazil another victory. He knows Quinton's game, but unfortunately Quinton knows his too, but he may had bad memories of that... In fact, when I was here I heard some rumors that Quinton wanted to train with me, and when I knew that it was his preparation to fight with Wanderlei I didn't accept. Everybody is professional, but there are things that money can't buy. I heard this rumors, I have nothing against him, I'm a professional, but not that much, train someone to fight someone that already trained with me.

Cordeiro

from Kevin Iole, Yahoo! Sports:
As recently as Monday, UFC president Dana White said there were "lots of moving parts" as he tried to complete the company's end-of-year fight cards.

On Wednesday, he at least got the top three fights of UFC 92 finalized. The co-main events will feature the interim heavyweight title match between champion Antonio Rodrigo and Frank Mir. Forrest Griffin will defend the light heavyweight title against Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson will meet Wanderlei Silva, who defeated him twice when they fought in PRIDE.

The Jackson-Silva card had been considered for UFC 91, when the card was slated to be in Portland, Ore., as well for UFC 94, which will be Jan. 31 in Las Vegas.

But White said he wanted to "stack" the UFC's traditional New Year's Eve weekend card and managed to do so by putting four of the company's most popular fighters on the card.

The UFC has officially moved the fight card across Las Vegas Blvd. from Mandalay Bay to the MGM Grand Garden.

Jackson will be fighting for the first time since losing the light heavyweight belt to Griffin at UFC 86 on July 5 and a bizarre traffic incident on July 15 in suburban Los Angeles. Jackson was driving on the wrong side of the road and on sidewalks and fled even while being chased by police.

He was charged with two felonies and three misdemeanors and has pled not guilty. He has a Nov. 3 court appearance scheduled.

White has said no drugs or alcohol were involved and that Jackson's actions were fueled by "delirium" caused by days of little sleep, little food and water and excessive intake of energy drinks.

Hosts Tiffany Simons and Mike Chiappetta talk about Kimbo vs. Ken, Andrei Arvolvski, Dana White and Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson.

from ufc.com:
Live From the O2-Dublin - Saturday, January 17, 2009

Las Vegas, NV (USA) - The world's most exciting sport returns to the Emerald Isle as the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) organization opens up 2009 with the star-powered UFC 93 card at the O2-Dublin in Dublin, Ireland on January 17, 2009.

In the light heavyweight main event, former two-division world champion Dan Henderson will collide with former UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin in three-round war which will set the tone for the 205lbs division in 2009.

Then, 2005 PRIDE® Grand Prix Champion Mauricio "Shogun" Rua returns to the Octagon™ to throw down with UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman in a rematch MMA fans thought they would never see. The pair last met in Japan in 2006, with the legendary Coleman pulling off a stunning upset by breaking Rua's arm in the first round.

Here's the video of the Rua-Coleman fight in PRIDE and the aftermath. As I remember it, Rua breaks his arm early in the fight when Coleman goes for a take down. Coleman either doesn't realize it or doesn't care and keeps after Rua with the ref trying to intervene.

Chute Boxe members, including Wanderlei Silva, hit the ring, as do members of Hammer House, Coleman's team. Phil Baroni takes down Silva, who ends up getting Coleman's shoe on his throat. Coleman is charged up after the fight but later tries to apologize. Chute Boxe has nothing of it. Silva's so mad, he wants to take on Coleman, Baroni and Rampage Jackson at the same time.

Chrles "Krazy Horse" Bennett has gotten a lot of mileage out of the story that he brawled with members of Brzil's Chute Boxe academy at a PRIDE show several years ago. Finally, video of the incident has surfaced. The video cuts off at the end, with Bennett waking up and then falling back to sleep. Hard to imagine he got up and knocked out Wanderlei, but I guess we'll never know.

Here's Bennett's account, from mmaweekly:
MMAWeekly: Let's talk about that. You bring that up. There was an interesting post on a lot of the forums saying you got into a battle with the Chute Boxe guys. What happened with that?

Bennett: Nothing much. They just jumped me. A bunch of little bitches.

MMAWeekly: When did this happen? Was it at the show?

Bennett: This was at the last (show), this was at the New Year's show.

MMAWeekly: So what went down?

Bennett: Um. They were pretty disappointed that their training techniques didn't work for the guy that I was fighting. You know? I made him look like shit when I beat him up. He tried some of that Chute Boxe shit, but it's bullshit. All that shit is bullshit.

MMAWeekly: So you go backstage, and what happens backstage?

Bennett: I got called out in the ring after I beat the dude. One of the dudes that was training with him gets into the ring and he was like, me and you are next. You know me. I don't look for any trouble. I was more like, Okay, whatever you say, but right now I won my fight. I'm going to have a good time. Then I go to the back in the locker room, and that's where the whole Chute Boxe team was at. Then, you know, this and that happened. I won't go into further details, but if you read the post you already know.

MMAWeekly: This is what I read. Somebody from Chute Boxe choked you out. Somebody was kicking you down and then, rumor has it, you got up and you knocked out Wanderlei Silva.

Wand

Rampage

Lyoto

Thiago

Bloodyelbow.com is saying that we'll Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 92 on Dec. 27 (Web sites had previously said the fight would be at UFC 91) and Thiago Silva vs. Lyoto Machida at UFC 93 on Jan. 31.

Two tremendous fights there with four of the top LHW fighters in the world. After Rashad takes on Forrest for the LHW title, maybe what will happen is the winners of these two bouts will fight each other to see who faces the champ.

One thing to keep in mind with T. Silva vs. Machida is that both fighters are undefeated, so one of e'm is walking away with an L, which sucks because I'm a fan of both of them. But, hey a win gets them one step closer to a title shot.

powered by ODEO

This week, Tom and I talk about Afflcition partnering with Golden Boy, the possible Silva vs. Rampage fight and my recent trip to LionHeart Fighters.

Even though the UFC has not confirmed Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva vs. Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 91, Silva posted MMAJunkie's story about the possible fight on his Web site, along with this gif. So, does that mean it's on? You tell me.

from mmajunkie.com:
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson (28-7 MMA, 3-1 UFC) has begun preparations for a UFC 91 fight with Wanderlei Silva (32-8-1 MMA, 2-3 UFC).

Sources within Jackson's new camp at the Wolfslair Academy tell MMAjunkie.com that Jackson has agreed to the Nov. 15 bout and has already begun a six-week fight camp with the U.K.-based team.

However, the UFC has yet to announce the bout, and neither fighter could publicly confirm the match-up.

The Jackson-Silva bout will likely serve as the co-main event to UFC 91's headline fight of UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar. The fight card, which also includes Kenny Florian vs. Joe Stevenson, takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

All right, so by now you've probably heard that Rashad Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell. Cold. With one punch. As much as I don't care for Evans' showboating, you have to respect his abilities.

The first question is where does this leave The Iceman? Fighters can come back from devastating knockout losses. Wanderlei Silva did it - he had back-to-back knockout losses, courtesy of Cro Cop and Hendo. Before the fight with Rashad, Chuck talked about making another run at the title, implying that it would be a great way to end his career, but he also talked about fighting for years to come - a little Randy Couture, anyone?

Maybe it's time to get a new trainer. I know Chuck considers John Hackleman family, but something might need to be fixed. Jerod Phillips, who owns Tap or Sleep fightwear, hit the proverbial nail on the head: They finally started figuring Chuck out. He throws looping punches, and he keeps his hands down low. Couture, in their first meeting, got inside and dirty boxed him, evading the looping, yet dangerous bombs that Chuck can unleash.

Silva unleashed a vicious muay Thai clinch against Rampage in their two fights in PRIDE.

MMARated.com has learned that a light heavyweight bout between Wanderlei Silva and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson has been offered to both fighters for UFC 91 on November 15th and is very close to being finalized.

The addition of Silva vs. Jackson to a UFC 91 card that is already headlined by Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar for the UFC heavyweight title would put this pay-per-view in position to be the highest-grossing PPV in UFC history. Currently, UFC 66 holds that distinction since that event - headlined by a rematch between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz - grossed $5,397,300 in live gate revenue and just over a million in pay-per-view buys.

This would be the third meeting between Silva and Jackson. "The Axe Murderer" holds two wins over Jackson while they were members of the PRIDE Fighting Championships in 2003 and 2004.

Silva was last seen defeating Keith Jardine in devastating fashion at UFC 84 while I'm not quite sure what Jackson has been up to lately. If anyone out there knows, please let us know.

Penn Vs. St-Pierre: let's do it again.

UFC road show: Montreal out, Portland in
By Kevin Iole, Yahoo! sports

Though UFC president Dana White had held open the possibility of another fight in Montreal before the end of the year, he dashed Canadian fans' dreams on Thursday when he said UFC 91 will be on Nov. 15 in Portland, Ore.

White confirmed that lightweights Kenny Florian and Joe "Daddy" Stevenson will meet on that card.

He would not comment on other fights on the card, though he did say the anticipated welterweight title fight between champion Georges St. Pierre and lightweight champion B.J. Penn would be moved to Super Bowl weekend on Jan. 31, 2009, in Las Vegas.

"We have nothing but big fights left for the rest of the year, but this is so crazy because there are so many of them," White said. "We're going to have a retreat on Monday to figure this all out."

Light heavyweight Wanderlei Silva, one of the UFC's most popular fighters, said on Aug. 8 at a UFC Fight Club gathering that he would be fighting at UFC 92 on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas. White, though, said "He might not be on that card, though. But I really don't know for sure now. But I'm thinking he's not going to be on that at this point."

The UFC's schedule for the rest of the year includes UFC 88 in Atlanta on Sept. 6, Ultimate Fight Night on Sept. 17 in Omaha, Neb., UFC 89 on Oct. 18 in Birmingham, England, UFC 90 on Oct. 25 in Chicago, UFC 91 on Nov. 15 in Portland, Ore., The Ultimate Fighter Finale on Dec. 13 in Las Vegas and UFC 92 on Dec. 27 in Las Vegas.

Showed up recently at a Tony Hawk benefit.

The Axe Murderer and The Natural.

Since his move to the U.S., Wanderlei Silva has been training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas. But I didn't think he'd be there forever...

From Wanderlei Silva's myspace page: "We are proud to officially announce the Wand Fight Team training and conditioning center! This brand-new, world-ckass facility will be housed in a 10,000 SqFt new construction at 4631 Dean Martin Road, in the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas. Complete membership details are coming."