Wand releases rant vid #4

Legendary fighter Wanderlei Silva is now retired, following an indefinite suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, issued after he ran from a PED test. However, he remains under contract with the UFC.

He was recently offered $10,000 for a two-hour autograph signing at a Bellator media event. Engaging in marketing for a rival promotion is prohibited by his contract, and when so informed, Bellator withdrew the offer.

Now Silva has released the fourth in a series of videos arguing that he is being treated unfairly.

“MMA is going through a transition period,” he began. “This transition is common to all major sports – baseball, soccer, football, basketball. MMA has reached its peak of how it’s being done. I just heard that the biggest MMA event in the world is predicted to have a profit loss of 40% this year.

“if you don’t start sharing profit and giving athletes better conditions, it will be over, the source is drying up. The fighters are unsatisfied with the event. No honor, no dignity, no glory, because we are being mistreated constantly.

“The other week I was invited to make an appearance for another event. I would get paid 10,000 to sign autographs for two hours. Two days before the appearance I got an email, saying if I did the appearance I would be sued by my former employers.

“Claiming that I’m still under contract. How do you have a retired athlete under contract?

“So I can’t work anymore, I can’t profit from the image that I built? With my blood, my sweat, my heart and everything that you all witnessed? These guys have already profited so much off of me. So are they going to pay me for my time, are they going to ask if I need that income to live? Will they pay my bills? You want to keep my contract without giving me any income? You want to use my name even after I die, but not even my own son has rights over my name? So you want to use Wanderlei Silva to the end and not pay me anything for it? So I spilled all my blood for nothing.”

“I am retired, I don’t fight anymore, I lost the desire. So what stops me from generating income now? Are these people going to keep threatening me? They’ll keep coming to sue me every time I work with my image? How is that going to be? This is a shame. These guys are doing things above the law. Because the law clearly states that every person is free to come and go. And they want to take that away from the athletes? How is that?”

In an interview with Brazil’s Combate in September, UFC president Dana White said that Silva’s videos are attempts to deflect attention from what happened over the past several months.

“So Silva says everybody’s getting rich except the fighters,” said White at the time. “What does Wanderlei considers rich? $9.7 million isn’t rich? A lot of people would consider that rich. Let me tell you what – Wanderlei Silva has fought six times in the last five years. He’s fought six times in five years. If being overworked is fighting one time a year, I don’t know what to tell you.

“And I think his strategy right now is brilliant. If Wanderlei Silva was standing here, not me, and you’re interviewing him, he would go crazy about ‘I hate the UFC, these guys don’t pay us, I’ve given them my body and they don’t pay.’”

“He’s under contract. His contract is frozen. It doesn’t matter. His contract doesn’t matter. He has been banned from the athletic commission. He’s appealing it, and he needs to go through the legal process. This thing is gonna play out. You know, I never had anything bad to say about Wanderlei, I still don’t have anything bad to say about Wanderlei, but he could have not have handled this situation any worse than he has.”

Wanderlei’s points in these videos may have merit, but he is unfortunately at present not the person to be making them. Some fighters may have been pressured to take fights with insufficient rest, but Wand fought nine times in seven years. Fighter compensation may be low, but Wand made over $1,000,000 per fight. And some things the UFC does may not be fair, but Wanderlei ran from a PED test designed to make the sport safer for all, most notably for clean athletes. That’s not fair.

The argument that ZUFFA profits are down 40% because unsatisfied fighters are being mistreated constantly in events with no honor, no dignity, and no glory is not compelling. It is painful to acknowledge, but Wanderlei Silva, who fought so heroically for so long and is a hero to so many, is unfortunately not an adequate figure to represent fighter grievances right now.

By contrast, Georges St-Peirre has offered criticism that is similar in some regards; and of course GSP can further advocate for more thorough PED testing, something that Wand is not at present in a position to do.