Photo by Sherdog.com
Is Anderson Silva's reign coming to an end?
"Everything has its time and I believe my time is already over . . . Everything I could do for MMA, I already did. Now it's time to help the new generation." -- UFC champion Anderson Silva to Sherdog about his remaining days in the fight game.
"I don't think he's very perceptive on how it's coming across to the media. Even before Anderson came into the UFC, his goal has always been to retire at the age of 35. He's actually talking about it much sooner than all of us would have liked him to, but the reality of it is that his goal is to retire at 35. He has eighteen months before he turns 35." -- Silva’s manager Ed Soares during a UFC 90 conference call.
"The best-known British fighter in the United States isn't Ricky Hatton. It isn't Joe Calzaghe. It's Michael Bisping . . . The 29-year-old mixed martial artist cannot claim to be the most famous fighter in Britain just yet, but it might not be long before he is. Hatton and Calzaghe's imminent retirements will leave a significant void in British boxing and it isn't immediately obvious who's going to fill it." –- writer Ben Dirs in a BBC profile on Michael Bisping.
"We've both got stories to tell. There's a lot of my background that I don't go into, that I don't say because I don't feel it's relevant . . . Life wasn't a box of chocolates for me either, but I don't think that has anything to do with this.” -- Michael Bisping to The Canadian Press on the Leben fight.
"As an amateur coming up through the ranks, I've traveled out of town and been the bad guy before. To be frank, I kind of like it. Making 20,000 people scream is great. But there's nothing more exciting than when you make 20,000 people shut up all at once." -- Chris Leben on his fight with Bisping in England to CBS Sportsline.
"Keith's beat the best and he's lost to the worst. So I don't know where [a win] puts me." -- Brandon Vera on Sherdog radio discussing his pending fight against Keith Jardine.
Stephen Martinez/Sherdog.com
"Whatever gets the big check, I'm going to keep doing it," said Sokoudjou.
"Whatever gets the big check, I'm going to keep doing it. Whether I don't have any discipline, I don't have any technique, I don't have any style -- I pretty much hate to say this, but I don't give two damns. All I care about is, I've got to make sure I beat the guy in front of me, get a big payday, and go home and party." -- Sokoudjou to USA Today.
"I drove all the way here. It would be nice if I won." -- Dave Herman understating his motivation before defeating Kerry Schall at ShoXC.
"It's funny, because a few weeks ago when I heard the stock market crashed and the economy was going down the tubes, I thought, 'Damn it, I bet my fight is going to get cancelled.' So in a way, I'm not surprised." -- Roxanne Modaferri to Sherdog after her Nov. 8 fight with Tara Larosa was cancelled, reportedly due to the American Fight League’s financial straits.
"It's really difficult to live on MMA alone, because the sport isn't that big in Holland and we don't have the same sponsors that American fighters do. We also get paid in dollars at Dream and due to the current world economic situation, the dollar is worth much less than the Euro, which, pardon my language, really sucks too." -- Dream middleweight titleholder Gegard Mousasi to Sherdog about why a fighter of his caliber still bounces at a nightclub to make ends meet.
"Gary Shaw, if you think going to the ground is boring . . . that's called mixed martial arts. You f------g morons need to be in the kickboxing business if that's what you're selling. You're paying guys to stand up." -- UFC President Dana White in a YouTube rant about the circumstances surrounding the Kimbo Slice-Seth Petruzelli fight.
"We have no reason to believe wrongdoing occurred. We stand by that at this time." -- Alexis Antonacci, a Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation representative to Sherdog on Slice-Petruzelli.
"He's only fighting main events [after] just four fights. That's just wrong. Now I'm kind of relieved because the pressure is off. They're going to put him on the undercard now. Hopefully. Pressure's off, he's just like anybody else on the planet." -- Bas Rutten on Inside MMA about what’s next to Kimbo Slice.
The Week Ahead
There will be no rest for the weary, as the fallout of UFC 89 becomes clear just as the UFC ramps up for its UFC 90 pay-per-view on Oct. 25 from Rosemont, Ill.
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