UFC boss says Pride just trying to get "traction" in calling out Liddell

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UFC boss says Pride just trying to get “traction” in calling out Liddell
Mon Oct 23, 5:24 PM

By Neil Davidson

(CP) - UFC president Dana White isn’t that impressed with Pride champion Wanderlei (The Axe Murderer) Silva calling out Chuck (The Iceman) Liddell, his UFC counterpart, during “Pride 32: The Real Deal” on Saturday in Las Vegas.

“Pride trying to get traction off us,” White said in an e-mail Monday when asked his thoughts about Silva’s challenge.

White tried to make a Liddell-Silva fight and the Ultimate Fighting Championship even announced it after “UFC 61: Bitter Rivals” in July, with Silva and Liddell entering the ring to stare each other down. But the planned November bout did not come off, with White saying it was hard to pin down officials with the rival Pride Fighting Championships for a deal.

Now it seems Pride is angling for the mixed martial arts bout, with Silva throwing down the gauntlet.

“Many times I’m talking, I want to fight with him but he don’t want to fight with me, I don’t know who is the problem,” the Brazilian fighter said in English from the middle of the ring Saturday night. “Chuck, I stay here now (in Las Vegas). No possible running.”

Silva’s star power was tarnished slightly when Croatian heavyweight Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic destroyed him at Pride’s open-weight tournament in September.

Still, Japan-based Pride is looking to build on its base in North America, a foothold that started in earnest with Saturday’s show in the UFC’s backyard at the Thomas and Mack Center. A Silva-Liddell fight would generate plenty of fan interest, but would the UFC want to fuel Pride’s attempt at building its U.S. presence in the process?

UFC co-owners Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta took in the Pride show. White did not.

Silva will fight at Pride’s next U.S. show, slated for Feb. 24.

Hard-hitting Russian Fedor Emelianenko, Pride’s heavyweight champion, was the big winner Saturday night, earning US$100,000 in defeating American Mark Coleman in the non-title main event, according to purse figures released by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Coleman made $70,000.

Pride welterweight champion Dan Henderson got $50,000 for defeating Brazilian Vitor Belfort ($30,000).

American Josh (The Babyface Assassin) Barnett earned $60,000 for his second-round submission of 1996 Olympic judo champion Pawel Nastula. The Polish fighter earned $20,000.

Brazilian jiu jitsu ace Mauricio (Shogun) Rua earned $25,000 for submitting American Kevin Randleman ($40,000). Eric (Butterbean) Esche made $30,000 for his 29 seconds in the ring, disposing of Sean O’Haire who earned $15,000.

Travis Galbraith, a native of Prince George, B.C., now fighting out of Edmonton, made $2,000 for a game loss to Japan’s Kazuhiro Nakamura.

UFC Update: UFC president Dana White has reiterated his organization is heading to Canada. “We’re coming there for sure. Absolutely, 2007 we’ll be there.” … Montreal is “not necessarily” the destination, he added in an interview. “We could end up anywhere.” Reminded that Ontario does not sanction MMA, he said: “That’s not a problem either. People just need to be educated. You’d be surprised what can get done if you really put some effort towards it.” … White says the ARCO Center in Sacramento sold out in three days for the Nov. 18 “UFC 65: Bad Intentions” card featuring welterweight champion Matt Hughes and Montreal challenger Georges St. Pierre. … Former middleweight champion Rich Franklin underwent surgery last week to repair his nose, fractured in three places in a title defence loss to Brazil’s Anderson Silva at “UFC 64: Unstoppable” earlier this month . . . White also confirmed that B.J. Penn was injured in his third-round loss to Hughes at UFC 63: Hughes vs. Penn. “Hughes broke his ribs in that second round,” the UFC president said … White says his organization plans “five or six” cards in Britain next year. The cards will all be available on pay per view here . . . The next season of “The Ultimate Fighter” reality TV show will feature 155 pounders - some veterans and some newcomers. White says he’s not sure what the prize will be yet. The UFC will start casting in two weeks and the show will begin shooting in January . . . The UFC has a new show on Spike TV. “Inside The UFC,” a magazine-type weekly show hosted by Joe Rogan, will debut Nov. 9 (check local listings). Spike already airs six other UFC-themed shows: “The Ultimate Fighter,” “UFC Unleashed,” “UFC Fight Night,” “UFC All Access,” “UFC Countdown” and “UFC Knockouts.” … Jason MacDonald did more than turn heads with his win over Ed (Short Fuse) Herman in his UFC debut on the undercard of the recent Tito Ortiz-Ken Shamrock televised fight. The Alberta middleweight won the card’s “submission of the night” award. “He looked awesome,” said White.

Notes: Coach Carlos Newton has chosen Montreal’s Ivan Menjivar to replace the injured Rob Di Censo at 155 pounds in the Toronto Dragons’ IFL World team Championship semifinal against Pa Miletich’s Silverbacks in Portland on Nov. 2. The Silverbacks are based out of Moline, Ill. Rogers Sportsnet will show eight hours of IFL material in November, across all four legs of the network. Look for shows Nov. 4, 11, 18 and 25 (check local listings) … Toronto’s Clifton Brown will take on 86-kilogram champion Nathan (Carnage) Corbett in a WBC Muay Thai bout on Nov. 11 in Macao. The Australian knocked out Brown in the first round when they met for the 82-kilogram title in December 2004. … The Maximum Fighting Championship is holding its next card - “Unplugged 2” - on Nov. 10 in Edmonton with MFC light-heavyweight champion Victor (The Matrix) Valimaki featured in the main event.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/061023/sports/misc_mma_submissions_3

Come on! Just set up the fight!

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Hendo took out Vitor? Whoa.

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yeah henderson is the man like that.

that pay seems kind of low for pride.

@Ktulu, i agree 100% wtf was the point in having wanderlei show up at UFC (whatever number), if they’re not going to allow the fight. Dana just doesn’t want their poster boy to get farked without KY. Seems to me like wanderlei showing up at UFC to begin with was “trying to get traction” off of wanderlei.

Dana Whites an ass hat and i hope he dies. or at least go broke and has to go back to his lameass tae bo-like classes agian. but i’m pulling for him to die.

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Are we all forgetting that Liddel already went to Pride and got schooled?

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Yes White loves to lecture the fighters on TUF and he can be an ass hat, but I still think he’s a genius. He and his business partners are making money by the ass load and they’ve taken the UFC, and subsequently MMA, to levels previously unexplored in this country. Though I personally dislike the guy and think he sleeps with some of the fighters (how else do consistent losers still pull down PPV fights? :confused1 ), I don’t wish he would die.

I’ve been hearing rumors that he’s going to box Tito. That should be entertaining.

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And Silva fought in the UFC and got beat by Tito, Chuck has beat Tito, therefore Chuck will beat SIlva right?

Both fighters have had fights since then, both have gotten better, and any fight, on any night has the possibility to go either way. Liddell vs Silva would be a good fight, and I’d have a hard time picking a winner. Overall I think Silva is probably the better fighter. Stylistically I think Chuck has a good shot though.

Although I doubt we will be seeing it anytime soon.

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Liddell’s counterpunching ability put him in a good position against a striker like Silva.

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I agree. If they ever fight…which they wont…Chuck is an even match for Silva.
You know Dana wont let it happen because if Chuck does lose then the UFC looks like chumps.

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I thought he only lost once in Pride, am I misinformed? I know he lost once to Rampage, but he also beat Overeem and Metzger.

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Maybe Pride and Dana have already agreed to do the fight and they’re just purporting all this drama to hype it up big time? That would be a smart move if that were the case…the next move would be for Chuck to make a little speech about Silva at the next UFC PPV.

Not getting my hopes up, though.

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Just feed Chuck to Fedor and be done with it.

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My point was not that he would necessarily lose, I was pointing out that Dana clearly doesn’t have some deep seated hatred of Pride. Having announced the fight at a UFC show, with Wanderlei in a Pride shirt and everything, it seems like he’s the guy left looking foolish if it falls through. I’d be more prepared to believe that, in fact, Pride are protecting Wanderlei from a possible loss to Chuck.

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Now, that I think about it that does make a little sense. When Wandy came out to give that announcement, one of the announcers was said something to the effect that his reputation was tarnished by the domination by Cro-Cop.

Logically, it could be a set up for if Wandy loses. ‘Yeah, your best (in the whole of the UFC, not just LHW) beat him, but he’s not even our best (MW, yes, but not in all of Pride). Put Liddell against Cro-Cop or Fedor, or Sylvia if Liddells too small.’

I’m not saying that I believe the UFC is stopping the fight from happening, or Pride. It makes sense that they both have motive to though.

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Oh sweet, I hope they ‘end up’ here in 2007! Or Vancouver, it’s close enough.

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“Pride trying to get traction off us,” White said in an e-mail Monday when asked his thoughts about Silva’s challenge.

You all do realize that despite Dana being a douche, this is likely completely correct?
The UFC is pretty much the face of MMA in this country, outside of fans who have been following since before TUF-1. A lot more americans know who Liddell is than have any idea of who the top pride fighters are. For Pride to succeed in the US, a fight between one of their guys and Liddell would absolutely be good for them. Pride’s foray into the US is largely only possible because of the UFC’s success, they’re absolutely trying to play off of that.