Anderson Silva Offered to Save UFC 151
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Anderson Silva Offered to Save UFC 151
telnights
8/24/12 3:01:50AM
Anderson Silva was close to saving UFC 151.
According to UFC president Dana White, Silva relayed a message through his manager Ed Soares just moments after White announced on Thursday that UFC 151 was canceled after Jon Jones turned down a fight against Chael Sonnen. The middleweight champion, who admitted he wasn't in the best shape, volunteered to fight on eight days' notice in Las Vegas against another light heavyweight fighter. Unfortunately, he was a few hours late as the promotion had already decided to scrap the event.
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According to UFC president Dana White, Silva relayed a message through his manager Ed Soares just moments after White announced on Thursday that UFC 151 was canceled after Jon Jones turned down a fight against Chael Sonnen. The middleweight champion, who admitted he wasn't in the best shape, volunteered to fight on eight days' notice in Las Vegas against another light heavyweight fighter. Unfortunately, he was a few hours late as the promotion had already decided to scrap the event.
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Aether
8/24/12 3:19:45AM
god damnit, I wish this had happened.
jlock003
8/24/12 3:20:33AM
So was silva offering to fight Jones or just saying he would take on a different LHW? Either way I feel like it gives him some props.
Aether
8/24/12 3:22:20AM
Posted by jlock003
So was silva offering to fight Jones or just saying he would take on a different LHW? Either way I feel like it gives him some props.
Someone other than Jones in a non-title fight is how I read it.
jlock003
8/24/12 3:26:04AM
Posted by Aether
Posted by jlock003
So was silva offering to fight Jones or just saying he would take on a different LHW? Either way I feel like it gives him some props.
Someone other than Jones in a non-title fight is how I read it.
That's how I read it too. Still think it's nice of him to offer. I do wonder though if he was willing to fight against like a rashad or a Rampage or if he was like, I'll fight Matt Hamill. I mean it sounds like he was ready to fight whoever (except for jones) so I'm curious what all this meant.
lohmann
8/24/12 3:37:11AM
Similar thing when Silva said yes to a short-notice fight at LHW back in 2008 to counter Affliction's pay-per-view. Cool for him to offer, but I wonder if Dana White would be willing to put Anderson Silva in such a precarious situation considering how much his draw might just be because he's riding that 15-fight win streak had the event not already been nixed.
And as for him not wanting to fight Jones, that does not surprise me. The money made by a superfight would be lost if there was only a week's worth of promotion.
And as for him not wanting to fight Jones, that does not surprise me. The money made by a superfight would be lost if there was only a week's worth of promotion.
aussiemma
8/24/12 3:38:36AM
anderson wanted to headline with eliot marshall
cowcatcher
8/24/12 3:38:46AM
Just to play devil's advocate, it's pretty easy to step up and make that offer after the event was scrapped. This could seem like PR move more than anything else just to prove he's a company man. Props to him for offering at all, he didn't have to and it's something we expect out of a true fighting champion. It's nice to see that, I'm just tossing the idea out there due to the timing of it. I'm not saying that's what I think happened. At this point most of the guys on the roster want to make sure the fans and management know that they wouldn't let an event fall apart if the ball was in their court a la Bones.
Bubbles
8/24/12 7:44:47AM
Posted by cowcatcher
Just to play devil's advocate, it's pretty easy to step up and make that offer after the event was scrapped. This could seem like PR move more than anything else just to prove he's a company man. Props to him for offering at all, he didn't have to and it's something we expect out of a true fighting champion. It's nice to see that, I'm just tossing the idea out there due to the timing of it. I'm not saying that's what I think happened. At this point most of the guys on the roster want to make sure the fans and management know that they wouldn't let an event fall apart if the ball was in their court a la Bones.
I now have a bit more respect for Silva
george112
8/24/12 7:58:47AM
I only give props to Silva if he didn't know the event was scrapped before he made the offer
If that wasn't the case like cc said its easy to make an offer to make yourself smell like roses
If that wasn't the case like cc said its easy to make an offer to make yourself smell like roses
lohmann
8/24/12 8:14:54AM
Posted by cowcatcher
Just to play devil's advocate, it's pretty easy to step up and make that offer after the event was scrapped. This could seem like PR move more than anything else just to prove he's a company man. Props to him for offering at all, he didn't have to and it's something we expect out of a true fighting champion. It's nice to see that, I'm just tossing the idea out there due to the timing of it. I'm not saying that's what I think happened. At this point most of the guys on the roster want to make sure the fans and management know that they wouldn't let an event fall apart if the ball was in their court a la Bones.
It is possible that it was merely trying to get good PR (which he might need here in North America), but to play a devil's advocate to your devil's advocate, it seems apparent that Silva would not have asked to step into the main event unless he knew Jones was pulling himself off the card, which nobody thought was possible twenty-four hours ago. How narrow is the time frame between Jones's refusals and the UFC starting its closing of shop? Like five painful minutes of angry Dana time? Once those calls to anything from sponsors, vendors, tech crews, etc. start happening, it is very hard to undo them. And if the UFC was going to even try to undo them, one of the fighters they would be willing to make an attempt to do so for would be AS.
I buy him being genuine about it, but then again, I hang from Silva's nuts.
airkerma
8/24/12 9:03:18AM
Posted by george112
I only give props to Silva if he didn't know the event was scrapped before he made the offer
If that wasn't the case like cc said its easy to make an offer to make yourself smell like roses
I disagree, in my mind at least HE tried something, as opposed to Jones who wouldn't take a fight against a MW who wasn't even training for the fight.
I wish they would have tried to replace the main event before scrapping the whole card, my life would be complete if Silva had stepped up and by some miracle was pitted against Shogun. Of course, now I'm just rambling about an awesome match up.
scoozna
8/24/12 9:18:05AM
White said he never expected Silva to offer his services and appreciated the offer.
This is what I was thinking...I think Silva was being genuine too, but not to fight JJ and I don't think it ever crossed Dana's mind to ask him to step up in some (any) capacity.
MALICE
8/24/12 10:18:31AM
I have a little test which I like to call "The last piece of pizza test." This test is a good test to determines the character of an individual. There are two types of people.
1) Person A will see the last piece of pizza, but being an honest, kind, generous person, Person A will leave that piece of pizza for another person to enjoy.
2) Person B will see the last piece of pizza, but being a dishonest, cruel, greedy person, Person B will quickly snatch the last piece of pizza with no thoughts or cares for anyone around them.
Funny thing. Some MMA fighters have recently been eating pizza. Silva enjoyed a few slices of pizza yesterday, but Silva left the last slice of pizza in the form of an offer to fight on the UFC 151 card.
Jones has also recently enjoyed some pizza. When he saw the last piece of pizza, well, he showed his true colors.
1) Person A will see the last piece of pizza, but being an honest, kind, generous person, Person A will leave that piece of pizza for another person to enjoy.
2) Person B will see the last piece of pizza, but being a dishonest, cruel, greedy person, Person B will quickly snatch the last piece of pizza with no thoughts or cares for anyone around them.
Funny thing. Some MMA fighters have recently been eating pizza. Silva enjoyed a few slices of pizza yesterday, but Silva left the last slice of pizza in the form of an offer to fight on the UFC 151 card.
Jones has also recently enjoyed some pizza. When he saw the last piece of pizza, well, he showed his true colors.
Franklinfan47
8/24/12 11:29:25AM
Props to real fighters like Sonnen, Weidman, and Silva 
tcunningham
8/24/12 12:52:07PM
And as for him not wanting to fight Jones, that does not surprise me. The money made by a superfight would be lost if there was only a week's worth of promotion.
i think you hit the nail on the head. even the ufc would have seen this as a profit loss.
i think you hit the nail on the head. even the ufc would have seen this as a profit loss.
prophecy033
8/24/12 12:52:26PM
I see where you're coming from CC. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and think he just heard about it a little late and missed getting ahold of Dana.
Posted by cowcatcher
Just to play devil's advocate, it's pretty easy to step up and make that offer after the event was scrapped. This could seem like PR move more than anything else just to prove he's a company man. Props to him for offering at all, he didn't have to and it's something we expect out of a true fighting champion. It's nice to see that, I'm just tossing the idea out there due to the timing of it. I'm not saying that's what I think happened. At this point most of the guys on the roster want to make sure the fans and management know that they wouldn't let an event fall apart if the ball was in their court a la Bones.
jae_1833
8/24/12 12:54:08PM
This whole thing has gotten ridiculous ...... Sonnen, Weidman, Belfort and Silva....thenMachida turning it down.....Jesus!!
MMAcca
8/24/12 1:54:20PM
Posted by jae_1833
This whole thing has gotten ridiculous ...... Sonnen, Weidman, Belfort and Silva....thenMachida turning it down.....Jesus!!
Jamie Varner offered to fight him too
Sir_Karl
8/24/12 2:52:35PM
Silva offered to fight AFTER Dana had already announced that 151 was scrapped. Ii am pretty sure Silva would have known that it was too late. I think Silva did this in order to make himself look better. He knew it was too late. I give Silva a thumbs down for this. Nice ruse Anderson.
bjj1605
8/24/12 3:26:21PM
Wow....
Some people are a little bit to jaded. Silva was trying to save the card and you guys are giving him shit for it?
Some people are a little bit to jaded. Silva was trying to save the card and you guys are giving him shit for it?
cowcatcher
8/24/12 3:32:21PM
Posted by prophecy033I see where you're coming from CC. I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt and think he just heard about it a little late and missed getting ahold of Dana.
Posted by cowcatcher
Just to play devil's advocate, it's pretty easy to step up and make that offer after the event was scrapped. This could seem like PR move more than anything else just to prove he's a company man. Props to him for offering at all, he didn't have to and it's something we expect out of a true fighting champion. It's nice to see that, I'm just tossing the idea out there due to the timing of it. I'm not saying that's what I think happened. At this point most of the guys on the roster want to make sure the fans and management know that they wouldn't let an event fall apart if the ball was in their court a la Bones.
I wasn't necessarily saying that I believe that or anything, just was throwing it out there for debate. There wasn't a lot of time between the card being scrapped and the press conference, so I'm sure the window for Anderson to step up wasn't huge, if it existed at all. I just wanted to point out that it was a possibility, because at this point just about every other fighter in the company wants to make sure they look like they'd take a fight anytime, anywhere.
jae_1833
8/25/12 12:59:22PM
Posted by bjj1605
Wow....
Some people are a little bit to jaded. Silva was trying to save the card and you guys are giving him shit for it?
Man this is the biggest fight in MMA!! Jones vs Silva would have never been considered on a short notice, even Dana wouldnt want to lose that publicity. Now tell me what LHW is available and willing to fight Anderson on short notice.....seriously? Machida's denied it altogether, freindships and all. Hendo/Bader are out for a bit. Franklin/Griffin had their shots, so no. Rampage just wants to retire, and he is probably WAY heavy. Glover is too new, no one else is looking good enough for Silva in general. We are hating because it is a hollow pr move.
Grimus
8/25/12 2:00:25PM
Posted by jae_1833
Posted by bjj1605
Wow....
Some people are a little bit to jaded. Silva was trying to save the card and you guys are giving him shit for it?
Man this is the biggest fight in MMA!! Jones vs Silva would have never been considered on a short notice, even Dana wouldnt want to lose that publicity. Now tell me what LHW is available and willing to fight Anderson on short notice.....seriously? Machida's denied it altogether, freindships and all. Hendo/Bader are out for a bit. Franklin/Griffin had their shots, so no. Rampage just wants to retire, and he is probably WAY heavy. Glover is too new, no one else is looking good enough for Silva in general. We are hating because it is a hollow pr move.
SILVA VS EVANS?????????? anyone? lol
bjj1605
8/25/12 2:43:46PM
Posted by jae_1833
Man this is the biggest fight in MMA!! Jones vs Silva would have never been considered on a short notice, even Dana wouldnt want to lose that publicity. Now tell me what LHW is available and willing to fight Anderson on short notice.....seriously? Machida's denied it altogether, freindships and all. Hendo/Bader are out for a bit. Franklin/Griffin had their shots, so no. Rampage just wants to retire, and he is probably WAY heavy. Glover is too new, no one else is looking good enough for Silva in general. We are hating because it is a hollow pr move.
He was making an offer. It wouldn't have been an ideal fight...obviously....8 days notice and all.
He could have fought Evans, Glover, Gustafson....anyone really. It's not like they couldn't have moved some fights around to keep the card alive. Even guys who are already scheduled. You think the UFC has never pulled guys from one card to fill a slot on another card?