Liddell-Silva.. What keeps it from happening?

Dr.Chicago · 08-19-2007, 09:47 PM

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What’s Next for Wanderlei Silva?

Posted by Sam Caplan on August 19, 2007

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Now that the UFC has officially announced the return of Wanderlei Silva, the next step apparently is scheduling him for his first match back since last fighting for the promotion at UFC 25 in 2000, when he dropped a unanimous decision to Tito Ortiz.

But when should Silva fight? And against whom?

On the surface, the answer to those questions might seem obvious — and that would be to schedule him for the long-awaited showdown with Chuck Liddell.

But is the answer really obvious?

Aside from a post-fight staredown with Liddell following Liddell’s win over Renato “Babalu” Sobral at UFC 62, the TUF-area fans that dominate the UFC’s demographics are largely unfamiliar with the Brazilian legend. And those that are familiar with Silva remember him being knocked out in each of his last two fights: first at PRIDE Final Conflict last September due to a head kick courtesy of Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at 5:26 of round one, and again at PRIDE 33 this past February when Dan Henderson floored him with a big right at 2:08 of round three.

One could make the case that Silva needs at least one showcase match before stepping into the Octagon to face Liddell. Novice fans that are unfamiliar with Silva’s body of work need to see the “Axe Murderer” steamroll a helpless opponent in order to gain an appreciation for just how dominant he had been during his PRIDE tenure. And fight fans familiar with Silva wouldn’t mind seeing if he’s still got it.

What happens though if you put Silva in with a credible opponent and he doesn’t have it anymore? Silva fought a bigger foe in Cro Cop, and he was treated for strep throat in the week leading up to his fight with Henderson. Those are legitimate excuses. If the UFC puts him in a match against an A-level opponent such as Forrest Griffin and Griffin wins, then Silva will be labeled a bust, and the UFC will have to scramble and figure out how to salvage what’s left of their pricey investment.

The UFC could try to take a safer approach and match Silva up with a B-level opponent such as Stephan Bonnar, Carmelo Marrero or a fighter with a perfect record from a smaller organization. The problem with that scenario is that the potential risk outweighs the reward. If Silva beats a fighter with credibility issues, then he’ll be viewed as having beaten a fighter that he was supposed to beat. But if he stands and trades and gets caught against someone like Bonnar or gets taken to the mat against someone like Marrero, then the UFC will have to call their lawyers and figure out how to get out of their contract with Silva.

There’s simply no need to have Silva fight anyone before he fights Liddell, especially not since the UFC now owns PRIDE’s video library. Armed with video footage of all of Silva’s fights in PRIDE, the organization has all the promotional material needed to show the public what a vicious monster he was during his reign as the promotion’s 205-pound champion. There’s still the issue of the knockouts, but does the phrase “out of sight, out of mind” mean anything to you? What non-PRIDE fans don’t know won’t kill them.

As for those of us who have a vivid memory of Silva’s recent knockout losses, we’re still going to pay to see Liddell vs. Silva regardless.

I know it’s drastic, but not only would I hold Silva out, but I’d hold Liddell out too and cancel his match against Keith Jardine at UFC 76 in September. I know it’s unrealistic to expect the UFC to cancel the main event of a card that’s less than six weeks away, but we’ve been teased with the prospect of Silva vs. Liddell too many times before. Now that both are under contract to the same promotion, the only thing that can stop the two from facing each other is Jardine.

Jardine is a good fighter with a lot of potential, but do you mean to tell me that he is the only remaining stumbling block between a match we’ve been waiting to see for the last five years? Liddell will no doubt be a heavy favorite, but what happens if Jardine catches him and knocks him out?

How many millions of dollars could the UFC lose if the unthinkable happens on Sept. 22 in Anaheim, Calif.?

The idea of canceling a main event on such short notice when there are no injuries might seem like flawed business logic, but UFC officials could save themselves a lot of sleepless nights by canceling the bout in order to preserve the Liddell vs. Silva dream match. Hell, I’ll go one step further. Not only should they cancel the match, they should cryogenically freeze the two so that they can’t even be injured in training.

By building up Silva and giving Liddell a chance to obscure his loss to Jackson, the UFC would put themselves in a position to increase the amount of potential PPV buys. But Liddell vs. Silva will still be the biggest main event in MMA history even if both don’t fight an opponent before fighting each other. The bottom line is that Zuffa is sitting on a winning lottery ticket, and there’s no reason to wait any longer to cash it.

In the past, UFC president Dana White has blamed PRIDE and Silva himself as the reason for a match between the two fighters failing to materialize, but if Liddell or Silva fights someone before fighting each other — and lose — this time he’ll have nobody to blame but himself.

Source: What’s Next for Wanderlei Silva? -- UFC news at UFCjunkie.com

Good article!

I just have one important comment.. I think whatever the end result of Liddell-Jardine.. UFC must make this fight happens no matter what..

Just for the sake of it!

Then both of them will be coming off 2 consecutive losses

duke09 · 08-19-2007, 10:36 PM

i have often considered many of teh themes found in this article. if jardine wins, and if silva wins when he and chuck fight, the superfight may be a bust when people say chuck was washed up, 2 losses in a row, has lost 'it', or what have you.

there is also a danger of silva losing a fight. look at crocop--he was the heir apparent to the HW belt, but some brazilian guy (

) failed to heed the master plan. crocop is now further down the list, and his fight against eddie sanchez was not teh marketing or introduction that the ufc wanted him to have, depsite rogan overplaying the play by play.

also, look at rampage's fight against eastman. rampage didnt look great, got booed and seemed tentative.

i dunno, i agree that i hope chuck beats jardine, and irrespective of wether chuck or jardine win, we see wandy and chuck throw hands dec. 29.

**notice that there were few, if any, concerns about shogun fighting forrest? perhaps many, too many maybe, are worried about chuck and wandy.