Wand: UFC Is Afraid Of Bellator Pay-Per-View
On June 24, 2017 at Madison Square Garden in New York City, Bellator MMA will make its return to pay-per-view, with the event being headlined by a long awaited grudge match between veterans Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva, who will make his promotional debut at the event.
Silva hasn’t competed since scoring a thrilling stoppage victory over Brian Stann in 2013. The Brazilian legend will now make his return to mainstream MMA and he appears to have his sights set on rematches with three fellow veterans of the sport:
“I would like a rematch against Vitor Belfort, Quinton Jackson, and Dan Henderson,” Silva told FOX Sports. “There’s a lot of classic guys that would make a cool fight against me. That’s because there’s too many fights going on these days, but no classics where everyone stops to watch them. A cool rivalry, with good marketing. There’s been some good fights, obviously, but classics? With big name guys? It just doesn’t happen anymore. They’re all retiring, quitting. We need to bring back those guys so that through those classic fights, we can promote new names and make them become legends and fighting classic fights in the future like us.”
A rematch with Jackson is a possibility, but rematches against Belfort and Henderson are quite unlikely. Either way, “The Axe Murderer” is excited with the progress Bellator has been making.
In fact, he said the UFC is ‘afraid’ of the pay-per-view that Bellator is putting on:
“Bellator is growing a lot. They have a much bigger number of shows now. They’re really starting to build their champions, so kudos to them. The company growing non-stop, no doubt about it. Nowadays, Bellator is the number two company, but on June 24, everyone’s saying it’ll be number one. That’s the day we’ll beat the UFC, who cancelled their event and changed it to a different day out of respect for us. They’re afraid of this show we’re putting on, that will be huge, no doubt about it.”
Do you agree with Silva’s comments?
