Dana White Reaffirms: "If [Anderson Silva] acts like he did [at UFC 112], yes, I would cut him."

MMA Junkie has the story:

Don't think for one second that White is backing down from his original claim that he will cut perhaps the world's top pound-for-pound fighter if Silva doesn't act properly in the cage.

"Lots of guys are going to have nights where they don't have a good performance," White said on Thursday. "It's not about that."

Silva, of course, has been heavily criticized in the past for having off-nights. The Brazilian was widely panned for a UFC 90 win over Patrick Cote when most observers felt Silva simply toyed with his opponent before a third-round knee injury forced the Canadian to bow out of the match.

The champ followed that performance with a lackluster decision win over Thales Leites at UFC 97. While Leites' butt-scooting attack was also to blame for the lack of action in that matchup, much of the blame again fell to Silva for a refusal to engage.

But it's not those types of performances that White says will have him reaching for a pink slip. Instead, the UFC exec says it would take a repeat of Silva's UFC 112 display against Demain Maia – complete with mat-slapping, trash-talking and general unsportsmanlike behavior – to get his blood boiling on Saturday night.

"It's about acting like a lunatic," White said. "If he ever goes out and acts like a nut, like he did [at UFC 112], yes, I would cut him."

Cutting the number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world would be a bold and unprecedented maneuver, yet that may be the situation Dana White finds himself in if Anderson Silva puts on another bizarre performance tonight. Time will tell, but White may be painting himself into a corner by reaffirming his earlier promise to cut the UFC Middleweight champion. 

While not many expect to see "The Spider" re-enacting moves from Step Up 3D against Chael Sonnen, no one expected him to repeat his UFC 97 antics, yet it still happened. Silva is so supremely talented that -- contrary to Sonnen's claims -- he can do whatever he wants in the cage. If he wants to dance around and really put White's words to the test, he can -- and he will. Just another interesting scenario to watch for tonight as we find out which Anderson Silva shows up for arguably the most significant bout of his career.