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10.17.2007 - 11:06:00 AM -
Q&A With Former PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva
Former PRIDE Middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva is set to make his return to the UFC at UFC 79. Rumors have been going around that there is still a possibility that he will fight Chuck Liddell at UFC 79.
MMAJunkie.com recently asked its readers to submit questions for Wanderlei. He recently had a Q&A session with Yahoo! Sports. When asked about a rematch with Rampage he answered the following question:
Q: Does your previous success in fights against the UFC light heavyweight champion Quentin "Rampage" Jackson make a potential title match with a fighter you've dominated extremely appealing to you? Finally, other than yourself, who would you list as the top five MMA fighters pound-for-pound in the world today?
WS: Yes, it's a very appealing fight to me. Because the two fights I had with him were good fights. And now he is the champ, so for me it will be a pleasure to fight him. I don't like him very much. So yes, it is an extremely appealing fight for me, because I would get to defeat him and win the belt.
I would say the top fighters pound-for-pound in the light heavyweight class are Shogun, Liddell and Lyoto Machida. Other fighters that I think are good are (Takanori) Gomi, (Gilbert) Melendez, Ninja (Murilo Rua) and Cyborg (Fedor Emelianenko).
When The Axe Murderer was asked about a possible fight with Shogun. He responded to the following question:
Q: Are you worried about receiving too many concussions and how that will effect you later in life? Are you still affiliated with Chute Boxe and Shogun Rua in any way or are you all separate now? Would you fight Shogun if the UFC asked?
WS: I have only one problem in my head, and that is that I am only more hungry to win. I'm training very hard this time around, because I need to give my next victory to my fans. I am not affiliated with Chute Boxe. We are separated, because I wanted to start my own team. I don't want to fight Shogun, because he is a good friend. I've trained with him for 10 years, so for me that fight would be very hard. There are a lot of other light heavyweights I could fight.
You can read the rest of the article over at Yahoo! Sports.
Non-UFC sources say that the contract Couture negotiated and signed before his comeback fight against Tim Sylvia in March is for four fights and between $13 million and $15 million, which puts him behind only Chuck Liddell, at four fights and $17 million, in the UFC salary pecking order. Those numbers are believed to include percentages of pay-per-view money.
I would take this at face value. Kevin Iole is a respected writer and has credible sources but this is a non-UFC source. The UFC has never before released figures of what people make and for good reason. If those figures were to get out to people the fighters may have more leverage at the negotiating table. Something I highly doubt the UFC or Dana White want to deal with. If this is brought up I'm sure they'll dismiss it as it isn't even coming from someone inside the UFC.
Here are two more interesting points about Randy's Retirement. Sam Caplan provided us with some insight earlier in the week with regards to this situation. Check out what Iole has to say:
Couture believes he can be a free agent after sitting out nine months, which would mean he figures he can fight Emelianenko sometime in late spring or early summer of 2008.
UFC president Dana White insists Couture must fight twice for the UFC to fulfill his contract and become a free agent
Kevin also went on to post about the future of the heavyweight division:
The winner of the Brandon Vera-Tim Sylvia fight on Saturday at UFC 77 in Cincinnati will meet Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the vacant heavyweight title sometime early next year.
Either winner to come out of Saturday nights UFC 77 fight will make a good opponent for Big Nog. Nogueira was the PRIDE heavyweight champion before Fedor came through and took the belt and has had it ever since. Nogueira is arguably one of the best BJJ practitioners in MMA. He also complements his ground game by working on his hands with the Cuban National boxing team. My prediction is we'll see Brandon Vera take on Nogueira, which will start the reign of Big Nog as the UFC Heavyweight champ.
Click here to read the rest of the mailbag from Kevin Iole.
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