“The Axe Murderer” is at it again, as Wanderlei Silva has released another video blasting UFC, this time focusing on the promotion threatening to sue him if he appeared at a Bellator media event as advertised.
Silva said that he was offered $10,000 to appear at a Bellator 131 pre-fight media event with fans in San Diego, but that he ultimately was unable to make the scheduled appearance due to a legal threat from the UFC.
“I am retired, I don’t fight anymore, I lost the desire,” Silva said on the video, which you can view above. “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?”
Silva continued, “There’s so much wrong in all of this. This is a new sport where the rules were dictated by the same people who are giving these contracts to the fighters to sign. This is not right at all, this is wrong. We can’t live under this kind of control.”
“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?” Silva said. “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.”
Silva also apologized to UFC Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez in the injury, saying he was wrong to question the validity of the champ’s injury.
“I picked the wrong words when referring to his withdrawal from the [Fabricio] Werdum fight,” Silva said. “And I know he had a serious injury, so I come to say sorry. I was wrong, I am sorry and of course you are a great champion.”
With the big UFC 181: Hendricks vs. Lawler 2 and Pettis vs. Melendez PPV coming up soon, make sure to check out MMANews.com leading up to the 12/6 event date.
For coverage of the event, keep up with these pages: UFC 181 NEWS || UFC 181 RESULTS
Talk about this on our official FACEBOOK page, or on our official TWITTER page. You can also talk about it in our popular FORUMS.
