If Anderson repeats what he did to Demian, he really could get fired. Photo: Luca Atalla
Chael Sonnen, Anderson Silva’s opponent at this Saturday’s UFC 117 event in California, has been making the rounds saying he the “Spider” will lose his belt and the organization will fire him. And what many thought was just provocation from Sonnen, may well be true.
However, the reason behind such a decision would not be a possible loss to Sonnen or even a below par presentation from the Brazilian. What could set off such an extreme ruling, according to UFC president Dana White at the pre-event press conference, would be Anderson’s posture in the octagon.
“A lot of guys have nights where they have bad performances. It’s not about that,” said the UFC bigwig.
Anderson has had performances where he doesn’t live up to expectations in the past, like his fights with Patrick Cote and Thales Leites, but what really influenced the talk of getting fired was the his display at UFC 112 against Demian Maia when after a dominant start he did little other than taunt his opponent.
“It comes down to acting like a lunatic. If he goes and acts like a nut like he did, then I’ll cut him,” adds Dana.
It’s worth remembering that after the aforementioned fights with Cote and Thales, Anderson put on one of the greatest exhibitions in MMA history against Forrest Griffin. Could the “Spider” have the same in store for his provocateur Sonnen?