Wanderlei Silva is Japanese.
At least the MMA veteran calls Japan his home. He’s actually Brazilian, but he became a fighting legend while destroying and entertaining in Pride Fighting Championships.
It felt like home to him last night when he stood across the Octagon to fight Brian Stann at UFC on Fuel 8.
“Wandy” has changed over the years. The last time I watched a fight with him in this building was Pride’s last stand in 2007. He faced Dan Henderson in a super fight. Hell, when you look at Pride in retrospect, they were all super fights. Pride had expiring contracts with fighters, and they were going out of business, so they loaded up one last card before they were wholesaled to UFC.
Wanderlei got the shit knocked out of him by Henderson that night.
Since then he’s been a shell of his old self, winning only 3 of his last eight fights. He’s only shown flashes of his silverback self in wins against Michael “Always-a-bridesmaid” Bisping and Cung “Method-acting-does-not-improve-your-clench-game” Le.
Also, Wandy’s gotten some really messed up plastic surgery over the past few years. He ALWAYS looked like an axe murderer. Now, he looks like a Syfy (that’s how they spell it) Channel Original Movie axe murderer. The type of flick where they paid the craft services guy to also do make up effects. His face is just plain creepy. I half expect him to show up in the next Sin City film as Mickey Rourke’s uglier brother. But, I digress…
Something about Japan brought out the old Wanderlei. First of all, this is his entrance music. I don’t care if you don’t like Techno, but this how you get a Japanese crowd ready to see two guys punch each other in the face.
The UFC powers set him up to fight Brian Stann. As much as Wandy looks the part of an axe murderer, Stann looks like a Mr. Incredible. His chin seems to have been sculpted from a piece of rock taken from Mt. Olympus. He’s a former Marine. He’s a former college football player. He runs his own charity for military veterans. This guy is All-American.
And that fits with UFC’s business plan when they have Pay Per Views outside of the US. In Brazil, they will load the card with Brazilians versus Asians, Brazilians versus Americans, Brazilians versus Europeans, but hardly ever Brazilians versus Brazilians.
So, Wanderlei was representing Japan, his adopted home and Pride and pride. Stann was representing the United States, ie. everybody else. The crowd had their good guy. They had their bad guy.
And UFC on Fuel 8 NEEDED this fight. Almost every fight was a huge disappointment. Diego Sanchez didn’t make weight then stole a split decision from former Pride champ and Japanese national hero Takanori Gomi. Dana White voiced his displeasure with the decision of the judges. No surprise there. Maybe Pride rules would leave the judges out of the equation more often, Dana. A fifteen-minute third round would separate the men from the boys… Then again, the Diaz brothers and their supreme conditioning may have them holding belts in every weight class.
Mark Hunt knocked out Stefan Struve right before Stann and Wandy entered the Octagon. I’m sure White and the Fertittas breathed a sigh of relief that they’d at least have a knockout of the night bonus to give away. I like Hunt. He’s got a good story. He’s on a roll, and he’ll get one more shot at making something happen in the division now that he’s taken down a Top-10 heavyweight.
But this was Wandy’s night. He entered the ring to the loudest pop since CM Punk showed up at SummerSlam last year. This crowd needed something to make this night special. He and Stann gave them just that.
It was all business as Marc Goddard, the referee, started the action. Silva threw haymakers. Stann took them and threw them back. This wasn’t MMA, this was fighting. This was raw. This was sloppy.
This was exactly what the fans needed.
A minute into the match, Wandy took a few shots from Stann, smiled, and waved for the Marine to bring more. Stann did. Wandy fell, popped back up and traded. Most fighters are different after they’ve been knocked out once (Chuck Liddell) – not Silva. He’s been knocked cold a few times, but he took shots flush last night and he kept coming.
The crowd rose to their feet after the first round. Japan needs more UFC. They were patient. They didn’t boo. They hoped their Pride hero would save this card. He did.
The wild hooks they threw in the first round changed to leg kicks for Stann and straight shots for Wanderlei. Wanderlei is surely walking with a limp today, but he’s doing it with a smile.
He pushed Stann back with a straight right, then knocked him on his back and finished him off with left hooks.
Wanderlei Silva made the crowd forget the mediocre performances of all of the fighters before the main event. Wanderlei Silva made them forget the last time he was in that building he was knocked unconscious by Dan Henderson.
In knocking out Brian Stann, Wanderlei Silva reminded the fans in Saitama Super Arena and around the world – The Axe Murderer won’t stop. And Japan is home.
God, I miss Pride.
You can read more of Brother Joe’s misnomers, prevarications, and TMZ background work at http://thejoeross.tumblr.com