February - 2016
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
36
Wanderlei Silva Free From
UFC, What’s Next?
Article By: Jay Anderson
It’s never fun to see a hero
fall, yet that’s pretty much
exactly what has hap-
pened to Wanderlei Sila,
otherwise known as the
Axe Murderer. Long a fan
favourite to many who fol-
lowed his career in Pride
and the UFC — especially
given his fan friendly, ber-
serker fight style — Silva’s
fall from grace was almost
immediate after Chael
Sonnen broke the news
that his scheduled oppo-
nent had fled from a drug
test leading up to their
UFC 175 bout.
Of course, Sonnen later
failed a drug test, several
in fact, of his own. Yet
while Sonnen came clean
and owned up to a his-
tory of skirting the rules,
Wanderlei
stonewalled
before finally admitting to
taking a banned diuret-
ic. In what was quite the
head-scratcher prior to it
overstepping its bounds
following Nick Diaz’s most
recent drug test failure for
weed, the Nevada Athletic
Commission proceeded to
suspended Silva from ac-
tive competition for life,
despite it being his first of-
fense.
The story didn’t end there,
obviously. The Cliff’s Notes
version reads as follows:
Wanderlei took the com-
mission to court, the courts
ordered the commission to
revisit the case. In the inter-
im, Silva accused the UFC
Wanderlei Silva
(Daniel Herbertson/Sherdog)
