'Axe' to grind: Was Wanderlei Silva's bashing of the UFC just a 'smokescreen?'
There's a lot going on right now with Wanderlei Silva. Let's follow the timeline.
Silva bashed the UFC for mistreating fighters in a video blog and announced his retirement last week. On Tuesday, the Nevada Athletic Commission (NAC) issued Silva what was essentially a lifetime ban for evading a drug test. And Wednesday, UFC president Dana White called Silva's remarks against his organization "a smokescreen."
The thing that stands out most here? They all have a point.
Silva certainly spoke some truth when he went off on the UFC for sucking the desire to fight out of him with some of their practices. But if you think "The Axe Murderer" putting out the video four days before he was supposed to go before the NAC was a coincidence, there's a beach in Brazil I'd love to sell you.
This was actually a brilliant public-relations move by Silva and his people. The climate is right to blast the UFC. Actually, it seems like the "in" thing to do.
"They don't respect the athletes, they don't take care of the athletes, they don't pay the athletes," Silva said in the video. "They don't give anything to the athletes, only crumbs. And this is a shameless lack of respect, but enough is enough."
But where was the self-righteous Silva when it comes to another hot-button topic, peformance-enhancing drug use? Vacant.
"The Axe Murderer" was just penalized by the NAC for avoiding a random drug test in May, before his scheduled fight with Chael Sonnen in July. A collector came to Silva's gym and Silva left through the back door. He later admitted in front of the commission that he was using diuretics, a banned substance, to ease inflammation of an injured wrist.
Silva said in the video that he is upset because he didn't want to take the Sonnen fight in May, when the UFC had initially scheduled it and pressured him, offering a lot more money. Is it possible Silva didn't want to fight because he was using banned substances like diuretics during that time period? That's a question worth asking.
The Brazilian also said the UFC pushes fighters to compete more than they should, using Renan Barao as an example. Barao was indeed booked to fight three times within six months this year. But did he really lose the belt to T.J. Dillashaw and have a weight-cutting issue before the rematch last month because he was overworked? Maybe, but did Silva actually ask Barao or his coaches at Nova Uniao. He doesn’t say as much.
Wanderlei Silva (left) is known as one of the most entertaining fighters in MMA history.
When you look at the other champions in the UFC, though, how many times do they fight in a single year? Twice, tops. The UFC very rarely pushes its titleholders to compete more than twice, except for the champions who aren't huge draws, like Barao and Demetrious Johnson.
Then again, Johnson will only fight twice this year. He doesn’t seem to be complaining about being overworked. Some fighters, like Donald Cerrone, want to get in the Octagon as often as possible. It isn't like the UFC isn't paying them each time they compete. Other athletes are different and, for the most part, the UFC doesn't strongarm them to fight three times in six months.
Silva is not the first person to slam the UFC and he won't be the last. Ben Askren is chirping about Dana White from Asia, Mark Bocek wasn't kind to the organization when he retired over the summer and Georges St-Pierre, a transcendent star, says he won't come back unless the UFC changes some of its practices.
What's interesting about most of the people criticizing the UFC recently is that their anger is based on the company's perceived lack of impactful drug-testing measures. St-Pierre doesn't want to fight again unless the UFC beefs up their policies. Bocek and Brian Stann made similar declarations.
The good news here is that Marc Ratner, the UFC's Vice President of Regulatory Affairs, said recently that the UFC is hoping to expand drug-testing throughout its 500+ person roster by the end of the year.
Of course, Silva is not angry about one of the most important topics in MMA today, because, well, he was using drugs himself. Silva’s argument is that the UFC doesn’t pay fighters enough and overworks them. The latter is not one heard very often from fighters pissed off at the UFC.
Silva does speak some truth, though. The UFC might be able to afford to pay fighters more. But this is a business at the end of the day. There's a supply-and-demand principle. If an employee is willing to compete for a certain amount, when does a business ever give that employee more? If the UFC is attempting to get the most out of its employees (independent contractors, in this case) at the least cost possible, that makes the organization no different than any other out there.
That's why people have said fighters need a union, like their counterparts in MLB, the NFL and the NBA. Having an advocate for fighters needs sounds like a great idea and hopefully one day soon that will happen.
But Wanderlei Silva wouldn’t exactly be a good choice for President. Maybe as a PR guy.
