Wanderlei Takes the Whole Year OFF!!

The-Iceman-Chuck-Liddell · 05-19-2007, 12:03 PM

Quote:

Performify back with some big news from the world of PRIDE Fighting Championships.

PRIDE’s Wanderlei Silva declared that he will take off the rest of 2007 to focus on training. In an in-depth interview posted today in the Gazeta do Povo, a newspaper from Silva’s hometown of Curitiba, Brazil, the former PRIDE 205-pound champion expressed that he would not return to the PRIDE ring — or the UFC Octagon — until sometime in 2008.

From the interview:

O aguardado retorno do lutador paranaense Wanderlei Silva aos ringues do Pride (ou ao octagon do Ultimate Fighting Championship) pode não acontecer neste ano. Pela primeira vez no ano, Wandeco – como é chamado pelos amigos – admitiu que o seu retorno pode acontecer apenas em 2008.

Loosely translated from Portuguese:

The eagerly anticipated return of Southern Brazilian fighter Wanderlei Silva to the ring of Pride (or to the Octagon of the Ultimate Fighting Championship) will not happen in this year. For the first time in the year, Wandeco — as he is known to his friends — admitted that his return will wait until 2008. Among the some reasons raised for the Chute Boxe Academy fighter’s sabbatical was his contractual situation and the need for a period of rest and improvement.

Silva also said he is not directly under contract with either the PRIDE organization or the UFC. However, he said he had spoken to UFC president Dana White since the acquisition but the two had not discussed a contract. Silva was quoted as saying (translated) “I am training without a specific fight for the first time in my life, therefore I am training at a lower intensity, and I am using this time to my advantage to relax and to improve some things in my fighting style”.

Silva did go on to say that despite the announcement that he wouldn’t fight for the remainder of 2007, he would not rule out competing in a “SuperBowl of MMA” event between the UFC and PRIDE if one were to be announced later in the year. However, with the lack of progress on the PRIDE acquisition and the way the UFC is scheduling UFC events even further into the future than ever before, it’s unlikely we see such a “SuperBowl” event until 2008 anyway.

Silva — known by the fearsome nickname “The Axe Murderer” — is widely considered one of the most dominant fighters in the world at 205-pounds. While he’s best known for his reign of terror in the PRIDE organization, Silva actually fought three times in the UFC. His first trip to the Octagon resulted in a dramatic first-round knockout loss to Vitor Belfort — when he was still young, dominant Vitor — at UFC Ultimate Brazil (known as UFC 17.5) in September 1998. Silva then returned to the Octagon to defeat Tony Petarra at UFC 20. Then, in late 1999, Silva made the jump to the fledgling PRIDE organization for PRIDE 7 and 8 and the opening round of the PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix and won all three fights in what would be the start of a dominant string of victories in the PRIDE organization.

The following year in 2000, Silva was selected along with Tito Ortiz as the top competitors to fight for the UFC light heavyweight belt, which had just been vacated by Frank Shamrock. (Prior to this point, the 205-pound title was actually called the middleweight title, as it still is in PRIDE).

At the time of this fight, the division and the belt were renamed to the current “light heavyweight” division and title. After a five-round war at UFC 25 (Ultimate Japan 3), Silva lost a unanimous decision to Ortiz. Ortiz became the first official UFC light heavyweight champion while Silva then returned to PRIDE, where he would take over the 205-pound title and continue what would eventually become a 20-fight streak in the organization without a loss. In this time period, Silva racked up 18 wins, one draw (against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic) and one “no contest” in which he accidentally kicked Gilbert Yvel in the groin at the start of the fight.

Silva reigned as PRIDE’s middleweight champion (again, that’s actually 205 pounds, equivalent to the light heavyweight division in the UFC) from 2001-07. Along the way, Silva racked up several notable wins, including two very dramatic knockout victories over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

We all have seen how hugely traumatic knockouts can have a major effect on a fighter, sometimes derailing a career entirely. In his last two fights, Silva suffered very vicious knockouts, which are probably playing a notable factor in this decision to take some time away from fighting.

In the finals of last year’s PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix, a PRIDE open-weight tournament in which fighters of any weight class can compete, Silva suffered a traumatic first-round knockout courtesy a deadly “Cro Cop” left head kick. In his subsequent fight, Silva suffered another setback, losing his 205-pound title belt to PRIDE 185-pound champion Dan Henderson when Henderson knocked out him out with a tremendous left hook at PRIDE’s second event in the United States, PRIDE 33. It was reported after the fight that Silva was suffering from strep throat; however, the Brazilian has refused to point to that as a factor, acknowledging that Henderson was simply the better fighter that night.

Personally, I feel taking the time off is a great move for Silva. Some time to rest, recover, and more importantly, focus on training with that vaunted Chute Boxe academy may be just what “Wandy” needs. Silva can rebound from here and can still be a dominant force at 205-pounds in 2008 and beyond.

(If you can read Portuguese you can go check out the full article yourself. Otherwise you can depend on a less-than-perfect translation courtesy the good guys at Google.)

* * * *

Sorry I haven’t been that vocal on the site of late. I’ve been hard at work behind the scenes, as we had to move servers yet again to accommodate the continuous explosive growth of the site. A big thanks to all you who have been obviously spreading the word about us by linking our articles on your favorite message boards, by supporting our sponsored advertisers, and by recommending us to your fellow MMA and UFC fanatic friends. Please continue to do so. Your continued support will enable us to continue to bring you the best MMA coverage on the Web.
MMA betting at Bodog
In fact, I’d like to take a second to specifically throw a big “thank you” out to everyone who signed up at Bodog (and deposited at least $20 to open an account) in the last month. We had a record number of sign-ups in April from people interested in betting on the UFC and other MMA events. If you haven’t given it a try before, consider opening an account at Bodog and dropping a few bucks on your favorite fighter for this weekend’s UFC 71 event. Until you try it, you have no idea how much having action on a fight enhances your enjoyment of the entire event — even if it’s only a few dollars. If you are interested in learning more about how you could be making money betting on the UFC, be sure to check out the UFCjunkie.com MMA and UFC Wagering Guide: Where and How to Bet MMA now.

I’ll be back in just a short time with my picks and predictions for next weekend’s event, but let me give you a tip before then: the line for Nate Marquardt vs. Anderson Silva is starting to show up at most books alongside the lines for UFC 71, and Marquardt is currently close to a +175 underdog. I think Marquardt is a great bet for reasons I’ll detail very soon. But in the meantime, if you’ve got some money in play, or even you’re just now opening an account, consider throwing a bit on Marquardt while the line is still very juicy. (I’m very heavy on Nate The Great around +185, for the record.)

I won’t bore you with too much detail, but I’ve been spending my time working behind the scenes on building out an infrastructure here that will handle tremendous traffic so that UFCjunkie.com will be able to provide you the fantastic live coverage of upcoming UFC and PRIDE events you’ve come to expect from us — like our coverage of next weekend’s UFC 71 — without any major site slowdowns or outages. You may have noticed the snappier site performance yourself in the past few days. I’m pleased to announce it should be here to stay — even during our busiest times.

As Junkie himself previously mentioned, I’ll be headlining our coverage of UFC 71 next week, live from beautiful Las Vegas. Before I leave, I’ll have a full writeup of the upcoming UFC 71 fight card right here for you, exclusively on UFCjunkie.com.

As always, you can contact me by email with questions or comments or anything else at performify @

Courtesy of ufcjunkie

earvinarp · 05-19-2007, 12:27 PM

It seems like a sound decision. There are so many fighters that, after a couple bad loses, try to immediately fight again only to dig further their own grave.

Silva is "young" enough to be able to do this. If he goes back to the gym, heals entirely, clears his mind and regains confidence and focus, his coming back strong will be a great gift for his fans.

bayouboy · 05-19-2007, 12:30 PM

would love to see him make his return at the combined UFC/Pride event whenever that happens against you know who although I'm sure he would need some tune up fights before that one.

yaiir · 05-19-2007, 03:40 PM

I dont think its good. If a fighter is so fatigued and has such low moral that he needs to take a whole year out, that cant be good.

Also, think of other fighters that have had to take a long time out (wether its for injury or not). They are either never the same, or the game has changed totally and they are left behind.

Kurtis636 · 05-19-2007, 04:56 PM

I've been saying since the buyout that the only way we'd see Chuck vs. Wand is if Chuck loses the title to Rampage. Now it looks like we might not see Chuck v. Wand at all. Oh well.

earvinarp · 05-19-2007, 05:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yaiir

I dont think its good. If a fighter is so fatigued and has such low moral that he needs to take a whole year out, that cant be good.

Also, think of other fighters that have had to take a long time out (wether its for injury or not). They are either never the same, or the game has changed totally and they are left behind.

Maybe a whole year is too long but Silva looks like he needs a break. Man, as far as I am concerned, whatever he does to regain his old game is fine with me. He has been one of the most exciting fighters of recent times and it is painful to see him lose the confidence.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kurtis636

I've been saying since the buyout that the only way we'd see Chuck vs. Wand is if Chuck loses the title to Rampage. Now it looks like we might not see Chuck v. Wand at all. Oh well.

I see Chuck losing the belt within a year. Maybe not Rampage but as soon as Shogun makes his appearance or Machida gets his chance, either will probably beat a bored/conformist Liddell. Shogun being the new LHW king would be a great set up for a Liddell-Silva fight, as Shogun and Silva are like brothers.

Ring_Raider_07 · 05-19-2007, 07:12 PM

It's not a year. He said he's taking off the rest of 2007, which is about 6 months. And, I think that it's for the best. He needs to take a step back to catch his breath.

xVERITASx · 05-19-2007, 07:27 PM

I think taking the rest of the year off is a great idea. He has gotte Ko'ed so hard the last two times that he really should not risk another one that soon. This is exactly what he needs and then once he gets back just get a few fights under himself and he should be good.

BlingDogg · 05-20-2007, 01:50 PM

As much as I want to see him fight, it's best for him to take some time off. He hasn't been as successful lately as he used to be, so I think that his time off will get him back to where he needs to be.

And you're right, Ring_Raider_07. I didn't realize it, but it's not even like it's a full year or anything. It's just about 6 months, so that isn't too bad. I think fighters need breaks ever now and then, and after getting ko'd twice, he deserves it.

I bet when he comes back, he'll be as dominant and confident as ever.

I heart LNP · 05-20-2007, 05:08 PM

If he thinks he needs it then I see no reason why he shouldn't do it. He just came off of two tough losses so he needs to do whatever works to get him mentally ready to start winning again.

Crashsti · 05-21-2007, 11:44 AM

he says he's taking a year off but that does'nt mean he won't come back early. he must have something he wants to accomplish in that time away and deos'nt want to rush anything. you say a year and are only away for six months nobody talks. you say say you're going to be away six months and are gone for a year, people talk.

HaVoK · 05-21-2007, 02:33 PM

I hope Silva comes back strong. He is a very exciting fighter and I don't want him to completely fall off already. He is perfect for the Superfight.

Osnodon · 05-22-2007, 02:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HaVoK

I hope Silva comes back strong. He is a very exciting fighter and I don't want him to completely fall off already. He is perfect for the Superfight.

Let's hope he comes back as The Axe Murderer.