Media upset Anderson Silva refuses to be puppet, chooses to be Oscar the Grouch instead

Yesterday, the UFC had its conference call for UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen and there were a lot of interesting developments that stemmed from it. Anderson Silva announced that he was not only happy at middleweight, but also willing to retire there, adding that if anyone wanted to beat him, they can come to 185. We also learned that Anderson Silva pays no attention to UFC President Dana White's threat to cut himi if he doesn't perform. The most glaring of them has to be the fury that the media has rained upon Anderson Silva in their recaps of the conference. Steve Cofield, a Yahoo UFC writer, particularly stood out to me as someone who was highly upset.

Boorish, disrespectful, clownish, obnoxious, rude and even insubordinate. Those are just some of the derogatory terms used to describe Anderson Silva's behavior during the main event at UFC 112. Between the gyrating, dancing and his failure to engage during much of the fight, Silva sent Dana White over the edge, disrespected the UAE royal family (his new bosses) and turned off many fans. Silva showed a little contrition in the immediate aftermath but during a UFC 117 teleconference, to preview next weekend's main event, it was good to find out the old Silva is still alive and well.

Showing once again he doesn't get it, the UFC middleweight champ made gave plenty of one-word answers and mocked most of the questions. It's the fight game. Part of your job is to sell the fight and in doing so raise your own profile. It is fine Silva's a jerk, we get that. But at least embrace it.

Floyd Mayweather is a genius. He gets it. As long as you pick a side, Floyd is happy. That's why he's making $25 million a fight. Silva is on the opposite end of the spectrum. His approach during an incredible 11-fight win streak is still why almost no one outside of MMA has any idea who he is. Chael Sonnen, who is the antithesis of Silva with the media and fans, gets it and wrapped things up nicely. 

Silva doesn't "get it", but Chael Sonnen does? First, let's start with the ridiculous comparison to Floyd Mayweather Jr.  "Money" is in it for himself. "Money" is an employee of himself. What "Money" does is a direct reflection of how much...money he gets in return. And those returns can be very abundant. Anderson Silva? Not so much. He is an employee of the UFC and thus what Silva does is in proportion to how much money the company itself will receive. Of course they will cut Silva a decent check for a PPV bonus, but Silva, overwhelmingly the main draw, isn't justly compensated. We're not going to have a discussion about the fiduciary politics of the UFC, we can save that for later, however using common sense, one can easily deduce that Silva would be much more enthused about marketing is his piece of the pie were larger.

On to Chael Sonnen who supposedly "gets it". Sonnen has engaged on a months-long crusade of bashing Anderson Silva and those affiliated with him. His targets have included not only Anderson, but manager Ed Soares, Antonio Rodrigo and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Brazilians and religion, among other things. This is the guy who gets it? If by "it" you mean that MMA is not in the business of fights, but in getting people to watch and that whatever you need to say to accomplish that you do it," then yes, Chael Sonnen has "it". I realize that the UFC is a business that needs eyes; I'm the one who coined the term "entertaining sports" to describe the UFC's current status. However, Sonnen's comments go beyond the scope of mere "promoting" and drawing up interest.

Where is the line? Was Lesnar's post-UFC 100 rant slurring sponsors above the line? Dana White, and most UFC fans and media, seemed to think so, yet White has not stepped in to say anything about some of the odious and jingoistic things Sonnen has said. One could make an argument that the post-fight brawl between Mayhem and the Cesar Gracie BJJ team will build up interest to a great fight between Miller and Nick Diaz. That may be a little extreme an example, but I'm trying to gauge where that line is. Does Sonnen even believe the things he says? If he does, then that means it's more than just "fight hype".  If he doesn't believe and it's just "fight hype", then why would Sonnen deny the Twitter account that has been the center of the media frenzy? The same Twitter account he's been seen on video promoting.

Cofield's comparison of Silva's performance in the main event of UFC 112 to his UFC 117 phone conference is comical.  Let's be honest here. Cofield is in the media. He's a writer and thusly needs things to write about. While Sonnen gave the media plenty of material, Anderson gave them very little and it upset the media. The more Anderson said, the easier it is for the media to play him and Sonnen against each other. The more salacious the quote that Anderson gives, the bigger the headlines will be. Cofield, and other members of the media, got upset during the phone call when Silva would not respond to their goading of him to react to Sonnen's real-life trolling.

For example, ESPN writer Smart Brother Franklin McNeil says to Silva "Chael never bites his tongue; he's very clear about his feelings towards you. Can you give us your feelings on Chael in this conference call?" To which Anderson replies "I think he is being funny." McNeil, clearly prodding for a juicy quote, follows up with "B-but Chael's being serious. He's not being funny at all and uh, I don't understand why Anderson isn't trying to respond." Ah-ha.  Why isn't Anderson "trying to respond" to Chael, doesn't he know we have a deadline? Silva's manager Soares correctly puts McNeil in his place "So what you're saying Franklin is you're expecting Anderson to engage and get into this, like, confrontation...this is just words, this is just a conference call. Anderson finds it to be funny and they take care of it inside the cage" and "then we'll see who's laughing". Soares answer clearly flusters McNeil as he ends his question.

Subsequently, a female reporter asks Anderson what he's done differently in his training than in his last two fights to which Silva deadpans "I trained with Steven Segal." Mind you, I thought this was a hilariously sarcastic answer, apparently no one else did. Sonnen interrupts and blasts Anderson for "not knowing business" calling him a "dummy". Sonnen says Silva "truly believes that people are watching to just see a fight and not see anything else". It's odd that I see members of the MMA media saying that Chael Sonnen "gets it" when you compare that to the cries of just last year in regards to "WWE antics" (not referring to Mr. Cofield himself who has consistently written that these things should be welcomed into MMA, to which I agree). In particular, Franklin McNeil was allegedly so upset at last year's UFC 100 post-conference that it was reported that he "was ready to cry" during "an argument over Lesnar's antics." What a difference a year makes.

The media seems primed to call Silva "arrogant", "rude" and "boorish" because he refused to fuel their thirst for a good story. They don't care about the business of MMA, they care about the story. If 300K people buy this show of if 1 million people buy this show; that is a minor detail to an MMA writer. Their anger comes not from the belief that Anderson isn't "selling the fight" to the masses, but that Anderson isn't dancing to the beat of their drum; isn't responding in the way they want him to respond to fit the stories they want to write. He isn't playing the game, THEIR game.

If the business of MMA was so important to the media, where were they to chastise fans back in 2006, 2007, and 2008 when Anderson was saying the "right things", doing the "right things" in and out of the ring and no one was buying his PPVs? Where were they to criticize the fans that refused to pay to watch Anderson Silva destroy people? Where were they to criticize Dana White and Joe Silva for not putting Anderson in matches the fans want and Anderson wanted to keep him interested? Those articles don't get them viewers. Those articles don't get them in circulation.

The question is why should Anderson be doing extensive media sessions are talking trash to sell the fight? Fans have already said several times, we don’t want to see Anderson Silva fight. His PPV numbers are the lowest of any current champion. The only time he has gone over 500,000 PPV buys is on shows with either BJ Penn or Chuck Liddell. While many are quick to point to his recent performances as the reason, it’s clear that those are not the reason why no one buys his fights. And if fans aren’t going to purchase his fights anyway, why should he force himself to be something he isn’t?

Chael Sonnen "gets it"? No, Anderson Silva "gets it". He says that "everyone has their own way of promoting the fight. My job is to fight on August 7, not talk a bunch of crap about people." I'm all for trash-talking, but it should be encouraged and not forced. Anderson isn't like those fighters you see in the UFC that talk all that shit before the fight and then hug and kiss afterwards and say "We were just selling the fight" all while insulting the intelligence of the viewers. The media wants to force Anderson to do something he isn't accustomed to doing. If Anderson is motivated to respond, he will, he's done it in the past with Robert Drysdale's comments about Forrest Griffin subbing him in their UFC 101 fight. Chael is nothing more than but a clown in Silva's eyes; Sonnen's affronts don't invoke the Spider because In the UFC's e-ring circus, Anderson Silva is the ringmaster.

SBN coverage of UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen