Sunday, January 24, 2010

By Isaac Kuhlman

  Today on MMABay Radio, Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping appeared simultaneously via phone conference to correspond with each other about their upcoming fight in Sydney, Australia at UFC 110. In a bit of a surprise, Silva (known for being a very respectful and gentle guy outside of the cage) was talking a lot more trash than Bisping (who some may know, has been a little brash towards previous opponents). The fighters talked first about each other and then fielded questions from the panel of Lee Honish, Chris Greenman, Michael Pepper and myself.

  Silva talked about his plans in his fight versus Bisping:

Respect is only for outside the octagon. Inside the octagon, I respect nobody. What I’m thinking is Michael will be afraid to fight with me in the stand-up, because his punches haven’t knocked out anybody, and he’s going to try to give me the double leg with the head outside. He’ll have just one takedown, I know which way he’s going, I have my game plan to beat him in this style.

  Bisping replied with a bit of a chuckle and an appropriately calm response:

First of all he needs to do his homework and look at my record. There’s plenty of knockouts on there. If he feels I haven’t got the power in my hands, then come spar with me, come hold pads for me. We’ve got a fight on the night, and he’ll discover that. I’m not saying this cockily. I’m just stating the facts. I have got power in my hands, believe me. Ask the sparring partners I’ve been knocking out. I’ve got one takedown. That’s laughable. I’ve got several takedowns. I’m not afraid to fight Wanderlei. This is what he keeps saying. I’ve never been afraid to fight Wanderlei or anyone. I’m a professional fighter. This is what I do for a living. I enjoy fighting. I enjoy the challenge, and I’ve never been afraid of anything, of any man. I’m gonna go in there, I’m gonna train my arse off and I plan on winning the fight. To say that, I’m afraid is rediculous.

  Both fighters were pretty straight forward in their game plans not revealing too much strategy other than that neither fighter was going to back down from the other in the fight.

  I had to ask them about their overall adjustments to the lighter weight that they have become accustomed to for this fight. Both Bisping and Silva fought for a very long time at the 205lbs. weight class, and both are not cutting down to 185 for this fight.

  Bisping noted that he has been down at this weight for several fights now and is used to the training and dieting. Quipping that it's not necessarily a fun way to train, he says, "It's worth it. 100%."

  Silva who has just recently been getting down to this weight said he feels much more comfortable now after training with his conditioning coach to get to the weight more naturally. A lot of fans and critics questioned whether or not the weight cut was good for Silva to start so late in his career, and it had a lot to do with the fact that he looked tired during his last fight with Rich Franklin at a catch weight of 195.

  However, Silva mostly had to look at his breathing for that fight. Due to his brutal fight history, he had to undergo facial reconstructive surgery to restore the natural airway in his nasal passage. This will be his first fight since the surgery.

  Many other very entertaining moments occurred throughout the broadcast including Michael Bisping tearing into co-host and professional fighter, Chris Greenman. To hear the broadcast in its entirety please visit MMABay Radio.