Mixed martial arts (MMA) icon Anderson Silva has seen a lot of people come and go in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), but he’s never seen changes within the organization of this magnitude. When WME-IMG purchased the UFC, a change of scenery was to be expected.
One of the big changes was the exit of long-time play-by-play commentator Mike Goldberg. An influx of interim title bouts and even a new women’s featherweight division have also been the result of new ownership.
Speaking with Combate (via MMAFighting.com), “The Spider” is wary of the things he is seeing with the new owners:
“It’s a company that is worried about entertainment. It’s not a company with a history in martial arts, the philosophy of the fight. That’s one of the reasons why ‘Jacare’ is not fighting for the title because, for them, it’s not something profitable, that will bring the entertainment they need.”
Silva knows that WME-IMG is not expected to have vast MMA knowledge overnight. He admits some of the things they have done are hit and miss.
“This is what they did their entire lives, work with entertainment. We have to understand that. It’s hard because we think about the martial arts, what is correct. For the show, some fights make sense and others don’t. They end up losing some fans but gain some.”
All in all, the once dominant 185-pound king hopes for the best. He said despite WME-IMG’s lack of a good understanding of the sport, he will try to push negativity to the side.
“I think they just took a big risk because the face of the UFC was always Dana (White) and Lorenzo. When you don’t have Dana and Lorenzo, the good cop and the bad cop, it’s kind of up in the air. But let’s be positive. I believe everything will be alright.”
