If Wanderlei thought there was nothing left for the UFC to take from him, he was wrong. His diarrhea of the mouth
provoked Dana into "Pete Rose"-ing him; eliminating from Hall of Fame eligibility.
Dana obviously is keen on everyone dealing with Wandy as harshly as possible, which I would argue lends credence to my theory the NSAC were following his recommendation (especially since Lorenzo Fertitta and two other Zuffa execs have worked on the commission).
And it seems Silva's new order of tinfoil hats has come in. Now he's claiming Dana might be manipulating fight results six months ago.
The ever so soft-spoken
Joe Rogan weighs in on the Wandy Silva life suspension. Calls it "ridiculous."
These [fighters] have been juking the system for a long time. Chael was the tip of the iceberg and when he got popped it sent a real message to everybody....
...Let's look what's going on here. These guys keep getting caught and when they get caught they're saying 'Everyone's on it.' Vitor said that. He said like 90 percent of these guy use when they're in camp. He would know better than any of us, so if Vitor's saying something like that, he's not known as a liar, you've got to think there's something to it. If you want to nip that s**t in the bud there's only one f**king way. You've got to randomly test these dudes.
Well, that same plan certainly is working splendidly for Pro Cycling, wouldn't you say, Joe?
OT but this is the first year I can remember when what went on
outside the UFC's octagon was more entertaining that what was happening
inside. First there was the Chael Sonnen-Wanderlei Silva fight that turned into Sonnen-Vitor Belfort because The Axe Murderer dodged an OOC. Until Sonnen got popped (twice) and it changed to Belfort shadowboxing. Then what began as Sonnen-Silva morphed into Weidman-Belfort, but not until December, because NSAC suspended Vitor for six months (six months during which he didn't have any fights scheduled anyway) for failing two (count 'em, two) OOCs. Then Weidman ronnies his hand in training and we're back to Belfor shadowboxing again.
Sonnen/Silva > Sonnen/Belfort > Belfort/??? > Weidman/Belfort > Belfort/???
Alex Gustaffson hurts himself training for the Jon 'Bones' Jones rematch and Daniel Cormier steps in. Except Alistair Overeem manhandles Bones in training and tweaks his knee (come to find out, 'the Reem' has a track record of injuring people he's supposed to be 'training' with) and the Bones-DC fight gets reschedded for next year. Which prompts Gustaffson (still ranked the #1 LHW contender) to scream bloody murder, because his repaired knee should be healthy months before that, and it was supposed to be his fight (against Bones) in the first place. But a series of high-profile public scraps already had taken place between Bones and DC before their first engagement was postponed that made it clear this fight is personal between them, a controversy which Dana fully intends to milk to the last centime.
Bones/Gustaffson > Bones/DC > DC/??? > Bones/DC
War Machine (nee: Jon Koppenhaver) beats holy hell out of his porn "actress" girlfriend and goes on the lam. But War Machine turns out not to be Jason Bourne, and he gets caught and arrested in short order.
Renan Barão gets light-headed trying to stand up from a hot bath while cutting weight, falls, cracks his noggin and gets hospitalised just hours before the weigh-in for his rematch against the man who took his title, T.J. Dillishaw.
Stefan 'Skyscraper' Struve, who has had a history of heart ailments, has a panic attack in the lockerroom in the minutes before his fight against Matt Mitrione. And since the attack presented many of the same symptoms as a heart attack, the fight was scrubbed. UFC cameras showed Struve weeping profusely in the lockerroom, and Mitrione genuinely consoling him, like a dad comforting a child who's puppy just was run over by the dustcart.
Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson suggests (to the press) that he and Gustaffson both got no dance partners so they might as well have a go. Dana likes the idea and schedules the fight. Then word comes that Rumble had been arrested for assaulting the mother of one of his children (who since has declined to file charges). Dana suspends Rumble pending the completion of investigations but says he isn't yet pulling the plug on the Gustaffson fight pending that outcome.
...........................> Gustaffson/Rumble > Gustaffson/???
And former Middleweight champ Anderson 'Spider' Silva (oft proclaimed the GOAT, who Weidman knocked out, then broke his leg, in successive fights) is scheduled to return January next against Nick Diaz. Except Diaz was arrested for drink driving, which got some industrious reporter digging, only to find out this was Nick's second DUI offence.
Dana announces none of this changes plans for the Silva comeback fight.
All of which must have (WWE owner) Vince McMahon thinking his scriptwriters are WAY overpaid, because they couldn't create anything this outlandish and bizarre on their best day. I can't imagine how it could get more convoluted, but I'm fair certain, if we wait a week or three, that it will.
EDIT:
I stand corrected. According to
Fox Sports, Anthony 'Rumble' Johnson wasn't arrested, and the alleged incident occurred two years ago. The woman waited this long to report it. But misery loves company, so now another ex-girlfriend is claiming he beat her up.
EDIT II:
To counter Silva's ranting about UFC fighters being overworked and underpaid,
Dana White points out he has paid Wanderlei $9.7 million for fights in the UFC, and he only has fought six times in the last five years.