SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
February - 2016
37
of fixing fights, offered
zero evidence, and this
past week offered a pub-
lic apology. In return for
the apology, the promo-
tion released Silva from his
contract with them, which
it had used to previously
blog an appearance by the
fighter at a fan event for
rival Bellator MMA.
Still follow? In short, once
Silva clears up his troubles
getting licensed in Ne-
vada, he’ll be free to re-
sume his fighting career,
if he so chooses. Leaving
the question of “should
he?” aside, lets face it —
he probably doesn’t want
his career to end the way
it did, in disgrace despite
his last recorded pro fight
being a spectacularly bru-
tal win over Brian Stann, in
typical Axe Murderer fash-
ion.
And so Silva may wind up
eventually fighting for Bel-
lator, adding to their sta-
ble of notable names from
yesteryear available for
freak show match-ups or
even title shots, depend-
ing on what Bellator’s got
going on in any given divi-
sion.
Yet the introduction of Ri-
zin FF, and its initial two
shows in January, have
added a wrinkle to this
story — as has Rizin’s VP
Jerry Millen. The Japanese
MMA promotion, which
caused a stir when it lured
Fedor Emelianenko out of
retirement last year, re-
cently spoke to Submis-
sion Radio about Wander-
lei, and stated that he’d
love to see Wanderlei Silva
back in Japan. He was also
open to a fight between
Silva and The Last Emper-
or:
Is another huge freak show
fight on the (forgive the
pun) hoRizin? Are Bella-
tor MMA and Rizin FF now
competing to see who can
host the most insane freak
show fights?
When you get right down
to it, Wanderlei Silva’s best
days are behind him, but
he’s a warrior who won’t
go quietly. If given the
choice, he’d probably be
better off returning to the
land that made him a star,
Japan, and facing a leg-
end — which would also
allow him to pretty much
ignore the Nevada Athletic
Commission, given Japan
is not bound by anything
they do. It would effective-
ly end his career in North
America, but realistically,
that has been over since
the day he fled a drug test.
Sure, I think it beagreat
fight. I mean we’ll see
if we can make it ma-
terialize, but I think it’d
be a huge fight. I think
people would love to
see that. I’d love to
see it even though I’m
close to both of them.
I’d hate to see friends
fight, but hey, it’s a
sport and friends have
to fight because that’s
just the way the busi-
ness is.
