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Here’s the UFC’s ad for their anti-Affliction show on July 19, which is now being billed as “UFC: Silva vs. Irvin”. If you think it’s purely a coincidence that they’ve opted to use language like “best fighter on the planet” with reference to a free event featuring Anderson Silva, while meanwhile Fedor Emelianenko fights elsewhere on the same night, then you haven’t been paying attention.

In politics, this would be a great example of using code words to send a message to certain demographics without alienating others. In this scenario, that demographic is hardcore fans, and the message is clear: Anderson Silva is a better pound-for-pound fighter than Fedor, plus our show is free.

For the more casual fans, they also manage to justify showing Chuck Liddell, “Rampage” Jackson, and light heavyweight champ Forrest Griffin (still feels weird to type that) simply by mentioning the “stacked” 205-pound division. Well-played, UFC.

Unless the Affliction pay-per-view numbers exceed all expectations, the UFC can also take credit for torpedoing their event once it’s all over. Something tells me Dana White has his ‘I told you so’ speech ready to go.

After reading MMA Mania’s recent interview with James Irvin, we have new respect for the Sandman. The dude is just plain ballsy. Not only did he accept the UFN 14 fight against Anderson Silva when four others refused it, but the man actually has the stones to explain why Silva really isn’t that much of a threat. For a guy selected to be the Spider’s first roadkill en route to a light-heavyweight title, Irvin’s taking his long odds in stride…

Jesse Holland (MMAmania.com): Well you don’t get Rashad Evans but now you’ve got UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
James Irvin: Yeah that’s a pretty big jump, huh? I can’t think of an opponent outside of Rampage or Liddell — maybe even Fedor that would be more shocking. But hey, Dana White seems to repay the people who fight hard for him…I’m gonna stand there and trade and I’ll take one to give one. In this case I might have to take two to give one.

Can you take two from Anderson Silva? Can anyone?
Absolutely. He has one or two tools that are problematic [ed. note: understatement of the decade?] but I know what they are. I think he’s more of a right-handed guy but he stands in a southpaw stance. He likes to lead with that left leg and he’s comfortable now. He’s used to getting guys on the defensive. There’s nothing he can do that I’m afraid of. I’m not afraid of him taking me down — that would be a shame, wouldn’t it? He’s a showman. He moved up to 205 to make a point. Maybe he feels like he ran through the 185 division and now he’s gonna start picking off the 205 guys.

And you’re not taking that lightly I assume.
No way! If anything I kind of feel like a representative of the light heavyweight division. I want this guy to know there is a reason we have weight classes.

I suppose Irvin can have such a cavalier attitude when he knows that he’ll be rewarded no matter what the outcome (i.e., whether he’s hospitalized after the fight with Silva, or if he actually dies in the cage). Not only does Dana White repay guys who fight hard, he also shows love to “real fucking fighters.” And Irvin definitely considers himself a member of that fraternity:

(Be careful what you wish for…)

His split decision victory over Ricardo Almeida at UFC 86 may not have been electrifying to watch, but it was enough to get Patrick Cote a shot at the middleweight title. At least, that’s what the UFC is saying.

“He’s getting a title shot,” Dana White said following Cote’s victory.

The question now is, when? The Canadian Press says that after his fight with James Irvin, Silva will most likely defend his middleweight strap against Yushin Okami at UFC 88 in Atlanta, which would mean less than two months between bouts for Silva. Two months after that, they say, is when Cote is likely to get his chance.

Apparently not everyone was happy with Cote’s performance, though:

There was some drama outside the cage after the fight. Manager Stephane Patry said a UFC official — not White — had berated his fighter for the lacklustre bout. Patry said he promptly complained to UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, who assured him Cote would be treated right.

“Obviously it wasn’t the most exciting fight but Lorenzo’s a good guy, he understands,” Patry said.

Now we get to play everyone’s favorite game, “Guess That Mystery UFC Official”. My money’s on Wilder Valderrama. He’s an official, right?

Barring any unexpected defeats or freak injuries, Anderson Silva will fight at least three more times by the year’s end, Dana White said in a press conference held yesterday. First, of course, is his light-heavyweight debut against James Irvin at UFN 14 on July 19th. Said White:

“If everything goes well, he wants to move back to 185 and fight Sept. 6 in Atlanta [at UFC 88], probably against Yushin Okami, then he wants to fight again two months later.”

And who might that next opponent be?

“(Ricardo Almeida) and Patrick Cote are going to fight on Saturday night and see who’s next in line for Anderson Silva’s 185-pound title,” said White.

The long-term plan is for Silva to keep testing the waters at 205, in preparation for an eventual run at the title. And for the first time in the UFC’s history, one of its champions would be allowed to hold two titles at the same time. “Normally I won’t let guys do stuff like that because it’s just…stupid,” White said. “I’ll let Anderson Silva do it.”

Anyway, this has to be bittersweet for Almeida and Cote. The good news is that the winner of their fight is getting an immediate title shot; the bad news, of course, is that the winner is slated to get the worst beating of his life in November. I’m not saying that throwing the fight intentionally and leaving the country for a while would be the best idea, but it’s probably not the worst either.

(Props: MMA Weekly)

From Yahoo! Sports:

[Dana White] said he’s found “the next Anderson Silva,” a lightweight who is competing in Season 8 of TUF at 155 pounds, though he declined to release the fighter’s name because it might spoil the season. “I was going off when I saw this guy,” White said. “He’s 24 and he’s destroying people. It’s sick how bad ass he is. I’m getting goose bumps talking to you about him.”

Early message-board speculation is pointing to Joe “Hybrid” Duarte, a 24-year-old San Diego-based fighter who claims on his website that he’s been selected for Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir. Duarte is 3-0 in pro MMA, 9-0 in pro boxing, and 19-1 in Muay Thai. According to his bio page, he walks around at 185lb-190lb (remember, he’s a lightweight) and is “really, really, really RIDICULOUSLY strong,” thanks to his Chamorro ethnic background. And yes, he does destroy people. His last two MMA matches are after the jump:

(Photo courtesy of KeepItIntheRing.org.)

MMA Rated is reporting that Rich Franklin will move to light-heavyweight to take on Matt Hamill at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta). Franklin spent much of his early career as a 205-pounder, before moving to middleweight in June 2005 when he took the UFC’s 185-pound strap from Evan Tanner. As for the matchup, there’s no danger of Franklin being torn apart by Hamill, Anderson Silva-style, but he’d better start drilling his takedown defense if he wants to avoid being laid on for 15 minutes by the hulking wrestler. And speaking of avoidance, how’s this for self-ownage — Franklin moving up in weight because he’s tired of bashing his face against Anderson Silva’s knees, while Silva is testing the waters at 205 because he cleared out the middleweight division. No matter where Ace goes, Spider is right there waiting, making sure he never gets another belt in his life. Poor guy.

In other news, we previously passed along a rumor that Jesse Taylor and CB Dollaway would fight at UFC Fight Night 14 (July 19th, Las Vegas), and multiple sources are now confirming the matchup. It feels a little premature for both fighters. Dollaway, who would be fighting just four weeks after his loss to Amir Sadollah at the TUF 7 finale, could use more time to cultivate his submission defense, and who knows if Jesse Taylor’s brief stint in AA and a couple months of groveling for Dana White has actually turned him into a stable human being. But it’s the matchup that fans of the show want to see, and it’s happening, whether they’re ready or not.

From MMANews.com:

With a potential win over Rashad how do close do you think you are to getting a title shot?
Chuck Liddell: After I beat Rashad I think I deserve the next title shot.

Would you every welcome a fight between yourself and [Anderson] Silva?
Sure, it could be a good fight but I think I’m too big for him. He’s a tough fighter and I have all the respect in the world for him but I think I’d be too much for him.

I know you’ve briefly talked about it before but would yourself ever entertain the thought of moving up in weight class?
Yeah, I have talked about that a bunch of times, when I get done with what I wanna do at light-heavyweight I’ll be looking to move up in the weight class.

If you could have an open weight fight with anyone in the world who would it be?
I’d really like to get a shot at Fedor; I think I match up well with him.

The Iceman faces Rashad Evans at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta) and is “hoping to be close to 100%” by the time of the fight, following a hamstring injury which he’s still recovering from. All respect to Chuck, but beating Evans shouldn’t put him next in line for a title shot, with the UFC’s 205-pound division as crowded as it is — though an additional win over Mauricio Rua at the end of the year would certainly clinch it. The thought of Chuck at heavyweight is compelling, as is a potential light-heavyweight match with Anderson Silva (who probably wouldn’t be too small to deal with Liddell, no matter what he says). And is this the first time Liddell has mentioned an interest in fighting Fedor? And when he said that, did a silent alarm go off, alerting the UFC’s lawyers that they may soon have another “situation” on their hands?

(‘Who shall I beat up for you, my friend?’)

Every company should be lucky enough to have a team player like Anderson Silva in their employ. You ask him to move up in weight and fight on short notice just to help you stick it to a competitor, and he doesn’t complain about overtime pay or make up an excuse about needing to go to his kid’s piano recital — he just does what needs doing.

In fact, he seems pretty unconcerned about the whole thing. He told Si.com’s Josh Gross recently that he’s walking around at 212 pounds and is ready to pitch in and do his part for the UFC’s global domination efforts:

“If the UFC asks me to do something, and it’s within my capability to do so, I’m going to do it,” he said. “I feel like I’m part of the UFC family and the head of the family asked me to fight. I’m in condition to fight, my coaches say I can fight — I’m going to fight. I want to do whatever I can to help make UFC the No. 1 event around the world like it is.”

Keep talking like that, Anderson, and Dana White’s going to show up at your house with flowers and an engagement ring.

Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, has a realistic though mathematically hazy take on the champ’s move up in weight.

(No ice cream makes Brandon Vera sad.)

Yesterday, we reported on the July 19th event that the UFC was throwing together — definitely not in an effort to siphon off interest from Affliction: Banned, by the way — which will be headlined by Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin (ha!). Though the event isn’t listed on UFC.com yet, it’s being widely referred to as “UFC Fight Night 14,” and some notable matchups are coming together:

Brandon Vera will reportedly be making his light heavyweight debut against Reese Andy, a 7-1 Octagon newcomer and IFL vet who holds notable wins over Kala Kolohe Hose, Jamal Patterson, and Krzysztof Soszynski. Vera makes the move to 205 just six weeks after his UFC 85 loss to Fabricio Werdum.

UFN 14 will also see the return of Jake O’Brien — who was dropped from the UFC after losing to Andrei Arlovski in March — as he’s been re-acquired to take on AKA heavyweight prospect Cain Velasquez.

In the welterweight division, Anthony “Rumble” Johnson (who most recently beat the freckles off of Tommy Speer at UFN 13), will reportedly return to the cage to do battle with Kevin “The Fire” Burns, who’s coming off a shocking choke-out of BJJ black belt Roan Carneiro during his Octagon debut at UFC 85.

And finally, the source is unclear but MMA Weekly and MMA Junkie are listing Frankie Edgar vs. Hermes Franca on the UFN 14 card; the lightweight bout had originally been announced for UFC 87: Seek and Destroy on August 9th.

More to come…

(Who can you count on in a jam? This guy.)

Remember that UFC event they’ve been planning for July 19? You know, the one they only started putting together recently, and which is purely by coincidence on the same day as Affliction’s MMA debut? Yeah, well, looks like it may actually happen. And it looks like the UFC is pulling out all the stops.

MMA Rated is now calling the July 19 event on Spike TV “official” and says it will be headlined by Anderson Silva making his light heavyweight debut against James Irvin.

What’s that you say? It’s totally insane for one of the sport’s pound-for-pound best to be pushed into moving up a weight class to face, of all people, James Irvin, on a show that is being thrown together a month in advance just to screw with Affliction? Yes, you’re right. Deal with it.

The initial story had Wanderlei Silva taking on Brandon Vera, who is said to be dropping to light heavyweight after his loss to Fabricio Werdum. And MMA Rated also reports that a rematch between Silva and Dan Henderson was considered. But Silva has reportedly turned down the fight because — get this — he doesn’t have enough time to prepare.

What? A last-minute offer to fight in a month on a hastily thrown together show doesn’t appeal to you, Wanderlei? Man, don’t make Dana White question your heart in the press again. He’s not above it.

Cain Velasquez is also said to be a candidate to fight on this show, which is expected to take place at the Palms in Vegas. The UFC is still looking for someone to face Brandon Vera at the time of this report, though the way this thing is going he could be signed to face BJ Penn by tomorrow morning.

(Photo courtesy of myspace.com/nathandiazmma.)

The UFC’s next “Fight Night” card on SpikeTV will reportedly go down September 17th at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska, and matchups are beginning to be sorted out. TUF 5 winner and Stockton-repper Nate Diaz has agreed to fight Josh “The Dentist” Neer in a lightweight bout on the main card; Diaz has gone 4-0 in the UFC since his reality show stint, including a legendary no-hands triangle choke victory over Kurt Pellegrino at UFN 13, while Neer (24-6-1, 3-3 UFC) last defeated Din Thomas by decision at the same event, and holds notable wins over Joe Stevenson and Melvin Guillard.

Omaha’s own Houston Alexander is also expected to appear, taking on Eric Schafer. The fight marks Schafer’s return to the Octagon after picking up a couple of wins in the Gladiators Fighting Series organization; he’d previously dropped two in a row to Michael Bisping and Stephan Bonnar. A middleweight fight between Ed Herman and Alan Belcher has been rumored as well.

In other UFC news…

— Dana White has denied that his mind-blowing announcement is related to New York MMA regulation. Epic Fail averted, for now.

— BloodyElbow is floating a rumor that Anderson Silva and Yushin Okami could fight in October, at the UFC’s next U.K. show. We’d rather see the Spider in a light-heavyweight super-fight, but sure, why not, clean out the division once and for all.

— French welterweight David Baron has reportedly signed with the UFC. Baron is the former 168-pound champion of Shooto Europe who most recently pulled off a huge upset at Shooto Tradition 1 by submitting Hayato Sakurai in the first round.

(“Boom! Another hit is landed…” The Pitbull mauls old-ass Matt Hughes. Photo courtesy of UFC.com.)

Now that the adrenaline has subsided, we can have a normal conversation. Here’s what I’ve been thinking about since Saturday afternoon…

— Matt Hughes carved out a legendary career without ever being a particularly dangerous striker. And good for him, but the young fighters coming up these days will not stand for that shit. There’s no way you can compete at an elite level anymore without a complete game. Hughes never had one, and it’s now been fully exposed. After Alves stuffed Hughes’s takedown attempts during their fight, the former champ had no more weapons left, and it was only a countdown until the inevitable. I’m interested in seeing Hughes settle his grudge match with Matt Serra; I’m not really interested in seeing Hughes continue to be tooled by other athletic and well-rounded members of the UFC’s welterweight division.

— Michael Bisping looked deadly once again. Obviously he’d be wrecked by Silva, Franklin, or Henderson (or Marquardt on a good day), but he’d have to be the favorite against any other middleweight in the UFC. I’d guess he’s two wins away from a title shot, and luckily for him, Anderson Silva might not be around by the time he gets there. (The chatter is that Silva may move up to light-heavyweight for a marquee fight, but it’s totally unsubstantiated at this point, so don’t get your hopes up.)

— I don’t care what Jason Lambert needs to do to get down to 185 — stomach stapling, breast reduction surgery, whatever — he just needs to get there. He also needs to understand that his boxing sucks; just like in his fight with Wilson Gouveia, Lambert’s wild and sloppy haymakers led to his own damn self getting knocked out against Luis Cane. I think the biggest lesson I learned from “Bedlam” was that if there’s a noticeably out-of-shape guy fighting a guy in great physical condition, don’t bet on the fatty. (See also: Eddie Sanchez.)

On Monday, we mentioned that Anderson Silva pulled out of a scheduled two-day seminar at Miletich Fighting Systems Houston due to “personal family health issues,” but was seen in Miami the same weekend at the grand opening of his own school. At the time, we were like “LOL EPIC PHAIL!” Well, it ain’t so funny anymore. As Sherdog reports, Silva’s aunt — who raised him from his youth, and who he thought of as his mother — passed away on Monday. According to a source close to the UFC middleweight champ:

Silva was already in Miami for the opening ceremonies of his gym. He learned of his aunt’s condition on Friday and tried to leave for Brazil on Saturday morning, but there were no flights. He then went to his gym for a few hours before flying to Curitiba in the evening.

So Anderson, we’re incredibly sorry — both for your tremendous loss and for the fact that we’re tremendous assholes.

(Anderson Silva: Pound-for-pound the worst liar in the world.)

— Chuck Liddell’s hamstring injury, which forced him to pull out of a match against Rashad Evans at UFC 85, isn’t looking good. “He can barely bend over and tie his shoe,” Dana White said. “He tore his leg real bad. It’s pretty nasty.” As of now, there’s no official estimate on how long it will take for the Iceman to recover and return to the Octagon.

— A welterweight bout between Tamdan “AFC” McCrory and Luke Cummo is expected to go down at UFC 87. Both men are coming off losses — to Akihiro Gono and Luigi Fioravanti, respectively — and if this isn’t a “win or get fired” match, we don’t know what is. (Update: Cheick Kongo and BodogFight/Gladiator Challenge vet Dan Evensen are also expected to meet at UFC 87.) In other fight-booking news, a lightweight match between Spencer Fisher (who most recently lost to Frankie Edgar by decision at UFC 78) and Jeremy Stephens (who most recently TKO’d Cole Miller at UFC Fight Night 12) has been added to the Ultimate Fighter 7 finale (June 21st, Las Vegas).

— Remember that two-day seminar that Anderson Silva was supposed to do this weekend at Miletich Fighting Systems Houston? Well, he backed out at the last minute, citing “personal family health issues.” Turns out Silva was in Miami doing a two-day seminar at the grand opening of his own school. Said Alex Lopera of MFS Houston, “If this is true then we have been completely mislead and as you can imagine we are furious at this. We are doing our due diligence to confirm that this is really happening. If this is true we will take all legal recourse possible.” Busted!

— Tito Ortiz predicts that at UFC 84 there will be “about 16,000, probably 15,999 [fans] that will be screaming about Tito and there will be that one person that’s hating on me.” Sure, but he’ll be hating on you so loud that it’ll seem like thousands of people, all over the arena. That son-of-a-bitch and his voice-throwing…

MMA Junkie reports that the UFC and SpikeTV are finalizing details for UFC Fight Night 14, which will take place on September 17th and will lead in to the season premiere of The Ultimate Fighter 8, which beings filming this month. Though no names have been announced yet, the UFC has already begun contacting fighters for UFN 14, which could possibly be held in Florida.

Speaking of TUF 8, the Las Vegas Review-Journal says that the fight between the season’s coaches — UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir — will be held “probably on New Year’s weekend.” Oddly enough, nobody from the UFC has told Nogueira yet that he’ll definitely be fighting Mir in his first title defense. “Next week I will have a meeting with the UFC directors in order to find out everything about the reality show,” he said. “Maybe I’ll find about my next fight.”

Nogueira is currently assembling his team of assistant coaches for the show, and has already mentioned Amaury Bitteti and his twin brother Antonio Rogerio as guys you might see in Team Minotauro’s corner. We can only hope Nogueira’s partner at Ultimate MMA shows up once in a while to teach the TUF castmembers crazy shit like this:

(Technically, this picture wasn’t gay until the guy on the far right started dragging his pants down.)

In an interview with Rochester, Minnesota’s Post-Bulletin, Tommy Speer announced that he has been picked up by the WEC and expects to debut with the organization in August. The TUF 6 finalist — who was cut by the UFC after getting knocked-dead by Anthony Johnson at last month’s UFC Fight Night 13 — competed once before in the WEC, knocking out Sidney Silva at WEC 27 last May. Said Speer on his bounce from the UFC:

“I didn’t agree with it right away; it was depressing news. But now I know I lost to a great fighter, and he surprised me and everyone by how well he fought. I don’t think it’s too bad of a thing for me to be going to the WEC. There are great fighters there, too. I need to keep learning and working on my game, and the WEC is a great place to do that.

The WEC’s 170-pound division is certainly respectable, with names like Carlos Condit, Carlo Prater, John Alessio, and Brock Larson populating the roster, but it’s not nearly the threshing machine of the UFC’s welterweight class, and seems like a great place for Speer to develop while still maintaining a decent level of exposure. “The Farm Boy” intended to fight outside of the WEC before his August debut, but his training has been halted by an appropriately rural setback:

“The doctors at Mayo (Clinic) said I was bit by a brown recluse spider (on my calf), so I’m on antibiotics,” Speer said. “They said it might take a month to heal up. So I’m not training now, and I probably won’t be able to fight until August, because I’ll need some serious training time when I get back.”

Speer said he still intends to travel to Missouri to train with former UFC champion Matt Hughes at his gym, H.I.T. Squad, prior to his fights.

In other news…

(Crazy Anderson Silva wallpaper courtesy of Olieng.net)

Over the last couple weeks, Matt Serra came crashing back down to Earth, Rich Franklin got his balls back, Shinya Aoki smothered JZ, and Denis Kang went out like a bitch. So if you haven’t swung by our Power Rankings section lately, please do so. In particular, the lightweight, middleweight, and pound-for-pound lists were freshly updated today. And you may be surprised at how high I ranked Travis Wiuff in the heavyweight division for going all the way at YAMMA 1…

Anyway, give ‘em a look and let us know if you see things differently.

(BG)

Devoted fans of Anderson Silva know that his pro record is 21-4, with three of his losses coming by way of total horseshit — or at least justifiable means. Anybody could be excused for losing their pro debut, and the Spider lost his, by a decision against the very talented Luiz Azeredo at Meca World Vale Tudo 1 (5/27/00). More well-known are his losses to Ryo Chonan (due to a one-in-a-million flying scissor/heel hook) and Yushin Okami (due to a disqualification for an illegal upkick).

There’s really only one true black mark on Silva’s record — his submission loss to Daiju Takase at PRIDE 26 (6/8/03). At the time, Silva was a well-respected 9-1 up-and-comer who held wins over Hayato “Mach” Sakurai, Roan Carneiro, and Carlos Newton. His opponent was an outmatched 4-7-1 can who was being served up to give the promising Chute Boxe fighter another impressive win. But things didn’t go according to the script, with Takase scoring an early takedown, working some GnP, nearly ending the fight with an armlock, then flipping into a triangle choke that forced Silva to tap on his feet.

Takase lost four of his next six fights and faded back into obscurity. Anderson Silva is currently the greatest fighter in the world.

(It was either this or a dude wearing underwear from a GIS for “boxer”.)

— Roy Jones, Jr. has spoken out again about Dana White’s expected block of the proposed boxing match between Jones and Anderson Silva. Jones was on Sherdog’s “Beatdown” recently and discussed his side of the Silva vs. Jones, Jr. boxing match-that’ll-never-happen debacle. As mentioned by BloodyElbow, “selfish” and “cheat” were words tossed around by Jones when talking about Dana and the UFC’s block. At this point, it’s beating a dead horse — the fight isn’t going to happen, Dana will always be a cock, and Anderson Silva would have lost in a boxing match against Roy Jones, Jr. Let this be the last of this talk, please.

— Chicago native Terry Martin was dropped from the UFC recently for sucking ass in the organization. So now he’s decided to try his hand at boxing. Martin will fight Ricardo Upchurch this Friday in a cruiserweight match — aka, 190 lbs, not that pesky 185 he had trouble with in the UFC. Here’s what Martin had to say about the move to the Chicago Sun-Times:

“Boxing was my first love…I started in mixed martial arts after wrestling in college at Northern Illinois University.

“It was a logical progression, but I’ve always had boxing in the back of my mind to get back to. Now’s a good time to get back to boxing, my training and sparring have been very good and I have no problem making weight. At this point I’m more excited about boxing than I am in MMA.’”

The fighter is not forever turning his back on MMA, though — according to his grappling coach, via BloodyElbow:

“I have been the grappling/MMA coach for Terry Martin for the last 2 and a half years. Terry wants everybody to know that he is training full time in MMA getting ready for his May 17th fight in Newcastle England against THE CROW and that boxing is only a way for him to stay active .His goal is to win a few fights outside the UFC and return to compete for the 185 lb title.

To compete for the 185 lb. title, huh? Well, let’s not go crazy here. Sure, some boxing experience would be good for Martin, but challenging Anderson Silva is…well, a death wish, right?

— And finally, David Haye, the current WBA, WBC, and WBO World Cruiserweight title holder, is considering a move to MMA. He’s the undisputed cruiserweight champ and is planning a move to the heavyweight division. Then, it might be onto MMA.

As told to The Southwark News:

“I’d probably have to train for a year and try and make that fight because I definitely feel that my reactions are good enough – and if I can get my ground game to a reasonable level… Obviously, I’m not going to be able to catch up with these guys who have been doing jiu-jitsu their whole lives.

“Believe it or not, I come from a martial arts background, my father was a karate teacher, so I’ve got good legs. I’ve done judo, so I know what I’m doing. I train at a gym called the Third Space in Piccadilly which has a jiu-jitsu dojo and I get in there from time to time and have a roll around with the guys. They tell me I’m at a decent level, if I put some focus into it and put some time and effort into it… I’m a natural athlete, I can do anything that I want to do and I think that it would be definitely worth my while getting in to do it.”

“I used to fight in the street, I used to be a street fighter, so I’m not a traditional boxer, I’ve done martial arts since the age of three. I might surprise a few people with my ground game.”

The “Hayemaker” is reportedly a big fan of MMA, but we’ve heard this kind of chatter from boxers before, so the jury is still out.

Last week, it was revealed that Dana White put the official kibosh on the proposed boxing match between Anderson Silva and Roy Jones Jr., due to its conflict with Silva’s UFC contract. In a new interview with the New York Daily News, Jones expressed disappointment at the way things were handled:

“I don’t see how it could discredit the UFC,” Jones said. “The guy has boxed before and he’s a tall, slick, left handed fighter. That gives everybody problems. It would be a good fight. As fighters we’re supposed to be trying to do things that amaze people and make history. This could have been something that people really wanted to see. I just think it’s wrong not to allow him (Silva) to get the opportunity to live out his fantasy to be in the ring with one of his heroes.”

Jones also added:

“If I had a high school wrestling background, I’d be willing to try that stuff (mixed martial arts),” Jones said. “But I’m lost on the ground.”

I’m still not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, Silva would get schooled in a boxing match with RJJ, and it would absolutely discredit UFC fighters in the eyes of the casual sports fan — many of whom already believe mixed martial artists are talentless brawlers who lack the skill of pro boxers. But then again, isn’t this the kind of thing that would help spread awareness of MMA and its stars on a worldwide level? And wouldn’t Dana White benefit from giving his stars a longer leash so they don’t all become disgruntled and leave the Octagon for freer pastures?

Your thoughts?

(Props: MMAMania)

(Anderson working the hands.)

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes

Roy Jones Jr. refuses to let go of the idea of a boxing match with Anderson Silva. Ed Soares, Silva’s manager, says that he spoke with Jones personally on Easter Sunday and Jones expressed serious interest in the fight.

“He told me that he thought that this was a good fight and he wanted to make it happen,” said Soares. “I restated the situation we’re in, that at this moment we have a contract with the UFC, an MMA fight contract, but if there’s a way to make this happen we would love to.”

Now that it’s clear both Silva and Jones want the fight, there’s just one question: What does the UFC think? Turns out, they’re not so crazy about it. Not yet, anyway.

“We’ve spoken about it,” Soares said. “At first, I think there was a lot of resistance. They don’t seem too into it, to be honest with you. We’ve heard from certain people that there’s just no way that this can happen. But never say never, you know.”

Recently the jokesters over at Bodog went ahead and handicapped the bout, despite the fact that it’s only talk at this point, and they pegged Jones as a heavy favorite with a -2800 line. Silva is going off at +1400, which is understandable since he’s never had a real pro boxing match and Jones, you know, has had a few.

Soares, who may well be biased, warns us against underestimating Silva.

By CagePotato Guest Contributor Ben Fowlkes

Ed Soares never stops. For the MMA manager and owner of Sinister Brand clothing, there’s really no such thing as spare time.

It’s the day before Easter when we finally catch up with him. He’s driving down to San Diego to sign an endorsement deal with Bad Boy clothing for Lyoto Machida, one of many in his stable of high-profile Brazilian fighters. With a client list that includes Anderson Silva, both Nogueira brothers, and WEC champ Paulo Filho, it’s easy to see why Soares might not be getting much rest these days.

In this exclusive interview, Soares talks to us about riding the highs and lows along with his fighters, the many jobs a manager does, and what it means to be the go-to guy for Brazilian mixed martial artists in the U.S. and abroad.

CagePotato: Ed, tell us a little about all the different things you do. How are you spending your time these days?
Ed Soares: The responsibility that consumes ninety percent of my time is my fighter management business. We manage some of the best athletes in the world — Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo (and) Rogerio Nogueira, Rafael Feijao, Lyoto Machida, Paulo Filho. We’ve got a lot of up-and-coming talents, too. Most of my time is spent handling their business, from endorsement deals to scheduling media events. I’ve had to hire an assistant to help me, and it still takes up most of my time. I also own Sinister Brand Clothing, but about eight months ago I hired a president to run my company, so I don’t handle too much of the day-to-day stuff. My two partners take care of that. And I have a partner in my management company who lives in Brazil. He takes care of everything in Brazil and I take care of everything up here in Los Angeles.

It seems like you’ve created a niche for yourself, managing so many of the top Brazilian fighters. How did you get started doing this?
Well, I’m Brazilian. Both my mom and my dad are Brazilian, and I’m actually the only one in my family who was born here in California. Before I started managing MMA fighters I started out as a nightclub promoter, and I also worked with and managed hip-hop groups. There’s actually a lot of similarities between managing a music group and a fighter, because at the end of the day they’re both entertainment. You want to create a following for your band or your fighter and you have to fill seats and sell pay-per-views.

I’ve always been interested in pro fighting and MMA, but the way I actually got into it was by producing a TV show called Passing The Guard with Jorge Guinarias, who’s a TV celebrity in Brazil — kind of like what Larry Merchant is to boxing here, he is to MMA in Brazil. When we started that in April 2004 it was basically the only MMA-related show on free television, even before The Ultimate Fighter. We did the show through December 31st of ’06, and through that we started building a good rapport with the fight organizations, simply because we were giving them exposure for free. And of course, we’ve always had a good relationship with the fighters, because that’s who we were interviewing. With my background in management, it was just a natural evolution for us to start representing fighters.

So this thing might actually happen. Seriously. That is if NBCSports can be believed. Then again, some writers over there have been trying to sell me on buying some lunar property — which I would if the plumbing wasn’t so shitty. Anyway, back to what I was saying. We promised we’d keep tabs on this and now NBCSports is reporting that boxing great Roy Jones, Jr. and Anderson Silva’s people are “actively engaging in talks” for the two fighters to duke it out in the boxing ring. the PR director for Don King Productions, Alan Hopper, confirmed the negotiations.

Check it:

“Roy likes the idea and is up for it,” Hopper said. “It’s being discussed. Roy will only agree if the match takes place under the rules of boxing, and UFC would have to clear Silva’s participation.”

Ah, that little “UFC clearing Silva’s participation” thing will almost certainly derail this. If Anderson Silva gets pissed enough when the UFC refuses to let him do it, maybe he’ll go the way of Tito and Randy Couture. I hate to mention such a thing, but if history serves as a guide…

I’m not sure how I feel about this. Boxing’s yawn-inducing stretch in the last decade and MMA’s many dimensions is why I haven’t dropped a dime on boxing pay-per-view events since before Monica “did not have sexual relations” with Bill. And let’s face it, Anderson Silva will likely lose. It’d be a big money-maker for both fighters and I’d probably still watch it, but I also don’t want this sort of thing setting a precedent. Next think you know, Tank Abbott will be challenging Big Sven, the German beer drinking champion, to a beer-off. Actually, Tank would probably win that one.

Not a giant parade-style announcement, but the reported date for the EliteXC’s first event on CBS is May 31st. Ads are supposed to begin during tomorrow’s coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament (go Big Blue, by the way).

And now for some more news from the afternoon:

— Anderson Silva recently stated he wanted a new challenge — specifically to box mega-star Roy Jones, Jr. Jones has now addressed Silva’s goal to take him on outside the MMA world. The former boxing champ was interviewed about his next fight and “Spider” Silva’s name came up. From MMAFightline:

“The trip was great. The fans over there seemed highly interested in having me go over there to showcase my talents and put on a show with him. They know if I’m there it’s guaranteed to be a good show. Right now I’m also hearing that this guy Silva is really talking about fighting me in a boxing match and I think that’s bigger than Beyer. If he comes up again, I mean he got on his website that he wants Roy Jones Jr, if he’s serious that might mean more to me than going to Germany and fighting Beyer. In Germany I know I’m going to knock Beyer out because that’s the way I have to win over there. But with Silva, I know I can outbox him and be good. It would be smarter for me to fight I don’t know his first name, but Silva first and then Beyer or the winner of Bernard and Calzaghe.”

We’ll monitor this one closely and keep ya’ posted if it looks like this thing might actually happen.

— Although he sometimes sounds like a moron, Bill Goldberg’s latest “Toe-to-Toe” is below for your viewing pleasure. This enstallment features Frank Shamrock and Cung Le training for their March 29th fight. We learn that Cung Le employs some kind of witchcraft smoke remedy to help his muscles recover, and am I crazy or does Frank Shamrock occasionally exhibit the same kind of manic energy as this dude? Check it out:

(That doesn’t look too pleasant.)

Having cleared out the UFC’s middleweight division in scorched-earth fashion, Anderson Silva is looking ahead to new challenges — specifically, taking on Roy Jones Jr. in a boxing match. As Silva’s manager Ed Soares told MMAWeekly:

“It’s not just talk, we really would like to put that fight together…We respect Jones’ boxing ability and think he’s one of the best. but we’re tired of different boxers saying that MMA fighters aren’t technical. Anderson would love to fight Roy Jones in a boxing match under boxing rules to prove that MMA fighters are technical, too.”

Once considered the best pound-for-pound boxer in the world, Jones (now 39 years old) has won championship belts as a middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, and once held seven different light heavyweight (169-175 pounds) titles at the same time. Besides a disqualification loss to Montell Griffin in 1997, Jones went undefeated in his first 50 fights before losing three straight in 2004-2005. His last fight was a unanimous decision victory over Felix Trinidad in January.

If Anderson Silva is actually considering a temporary switch to boxing, he should probably aim a little lower for his first opponent, lest he go out like Brock Lesnar. And taking some time off from MMA feels a little premature anyway — it’s not like there are literally no challenges left for Silva in the UFC. For one thing, there’s Yushin Okami, the impossible-to-finish contender who previously “beat” Silva through an illegal upkick DQ in January 2006; it would be nice to settle that score. I also think Silva should have to take on Michael Bisping, Patrick Cote, and Demian Maia in the same night. What, you wouldn’t pay $44.95 to see that?

(Props: Victory Belt via MMA.tv via BloodyElbow)

Based on a true story…

(“Dude, could you at least pretend to be surprised?”)

(The Crippler was rewarded handsomely for his blood-loss.)

The UFC paid out a chunky $932,000 in official salaries and bonuses on Saturday night, with Anderson Silva unsurprisingly coming out the big winner. The amounts are below; these figures don’t include any undisclosed “locker room bonuses” that are often given out to headliners and other fighters who put on noteworthy performances.

Anderson Silva — $260,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win, plus $120,000 in bonuses)
Dan Henderson — $160,000 ($100,000 to show, $60,000 for Fight of the Night bonus)
Andrei Arlovski — $170,000 ($105,000 to show, $65,000 to win)
Heath Herring — $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win)
Chris Leben — $110,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 to win, $60,000 for Knockout of the Night bonus)
Jon Fitch — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Diego Sanchez — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win)
Cheick Kongo — $30,000
Yushin Okami — $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win)
Evan Tanner — $25,000
Josh Koscheck — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win)
Alessio Sakara — $17,000
Luigi Fioravanti — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win)
Luke Cummo — $16,000
Jorge Gurgel — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win)
Dustin Hazelett — $12,000
Chris Wilson — $12,000
Jake O’Brien — $11,000
David Bielkheden — $8,000
John Halverson — $3,000

Underpaid: Josh Koscheck, who is still finishing out the indentured servitude of his Ultimate Fighter contract.
Overpaid: Luke Cummo, who didn’t do much that resembled work during his 15 minute grabass with Luigi Fioravanti.

(Props: MMA Mania)

Anderson Silva left the Nationwide Arena on Saturday night with the bank account of a champion, pulling in $120,000 in bonuses on top of his usual salary and win bonus (which were $60,000 each for his previous title defense at UFC 77). As announced in a press conference following the event, the UFC distributed its customary end-of-night bonuses like this:

Fight of the Night: $60,000 each for Anderson Silva and Dan Henderson.

Submission of the Night: $60,000 for Anderson Silva. It was the night’s only submission, unless you count the tapout-by-strikes that Diego Sanchez scored at the expense of David Bielkheden.

Knockout of the Night: $60,000 for Chris Leben.

So, another 1-for-3 performance on our bonus predictions, though we did call Arlovski for a KO/TKO in the second round. And Diego did technically win by submission. You know, I think we’ll just start predicting the outcomes from now on; we’d sound a lot smarter that way.

Take a look before it’s pulled…

Guest Liveblogger Ben Fowlkes of The Fighting Life here, all set and ready to go for UFC 82. I’m looking forward to a good night of fights, which I’m warming up for by watching Dana White swear through the countdown show. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Click the “MORE” link and refresh the page every few minutes for round-by-round updates.