When Vitor Belfort dropped out of the UFC 147 fight in Brazil with Wanderlei Silva due to an injury, and incensed Axe Murderer declared that Beflort was either scared or amateurish.
Belfort’s wife, Joana Prado, responded making pointed reference to Belfort beating Wand in 44 seconds (in 1998) and Wand losing to Chris Leben in 27 seconds in mid 2011.
The only thing Wanderlei can do is talk too much, he chickened out several times on fighting Vitor. And now he comes to mention that my husband is ducking? Wand’s next opponent, at UFC147 will beat Vitor Belfort’s record of 40 or Chris Leben’s 20 seconds hahahaha.
Read entire article… (original Portuguese)
Read entire Twitter… (Joana Prado)
Now Wanderlei Silva responds in a wide-ranging recently appeared on TapouT Radio with Stephie Daniels and Evan Shoman.
TapouT Radio: During the episodes of TUF Brazil that have already aired, Vitor’s habit of making long, drawn out speeches seem to bother you. Can you talk about what was going on there?
Wanderlei Silva: [laughs] You know, I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I can’t lie about what I feel. My relationship with him isn’t really ‘He’s bad, I’m good’ or ‘He’s good, I’m bad’, but some people, we can’t work together. He’s one of the people that I can’t work together with. I don’t hate him, but I don’t want to work together with him. He’s a guy that I don’t want to be together or close friends with. He’s not the kind of person that I like, you know.
Last week, I lost the kick in soccer to him on the show, and I felt so bad that I lost to him. I’m a really bad soccer player. I’ve never played soccer in my life. Dana says, ‘I’m going to give you $25,000 for the champion’, and I was like, ‘No way I lost to this guy right now!’ I feel so bad about it, but I did my best.
TR: On the bright side, you do have fighting to fall back on.
WS: Yeah, and I’m so happy for that. At the moment, Dana White has m≠ade the sport so big, and to be a main event, it’s a great honor for all fighters, and a great honor for me. I’m so happy to be back to the red line against Franklin. He’s a tough guy and deserves respect for fighting in my home town against me, with just two weeks notice before the fight. He has all the respect from me and the fans because he saved the show. I still get to fight, and against a good guy, thanks to him.
TR: The respect level between you and Rich has obviously translated to your fanbase, and they will no doubt give him a warm reception in Brazil. How do you think Chael Sonnen’s reception would be, were he to fight there?
WS: [laughs] He talking, talking talking, but you know, I think the Brazilian fans would receive him very well. That’s the great thing about MMA fans. We have close to 150 events, and never one case of aggression or things like that. I think they will be respectful of him over here. At least I hope so [laughs].
TR: What did you think of Vitor’s wife talking smack to you on Twitter, and inserting herself in between the two of you like that?
WS: That’s good that she supports him, but we need to be careful when we talk in public like that. It’s embarrassing for the guy when his girl goes and talks out about him like that. This is a man’s fight. It’s strange what she did. Sometimes it’s better if you just be quiet. That kind of behavior doesn’t need to be seen. I don’t know why she wanted to say something like that from outside of their home. When you’re inside the home, you can say whatever. Sometimes, the wife is the boss, but not here in my home. I am the boss. [laughs heartily]
We need to hold those beliefs. You don’t expose the family. You don’t expose their name. We need to be private, but in the public eye, she’s famous here in Brazil. But for that business, our business, fights, we can do the talking. We can preserve and take care of ourselves.
