MMA

Wanderlei Silva Being Sued by UFC Over Facebook Posts Claiming Fight Fixing

MMA


Wanderlei Silva angered the UFC with his recent Facebook posts claiming they fixed fights. They’re so mad, in fact, that they are willing to take Silva to court over it. According to multiple source, the UFC has filed a lawsuit against the former Pride FC champion in Nevada claiming “intentional misconduct”.




Here is the claim, as obtained by Fox Sports’ Damon Martin:

On or about July 23, 2015, Silva again launched another attack against the UFC, this time publishing his venomous statements on Facebook. After weighing in on an independent contracted matter involving the UFC and another individual unaffiliated with Silva, the ex-fighter closed his post by stating publicly ‘they don’t respect anyone, I already left it very clear for you I won’t ever fight again and for this event. Fixed fights and I can prove this. I still haven’t dropped the bomb, I haven’t told everything I know!’…

Not content to defame the UFC in a single post, Silva apparently decided to double-down on his scurrilous remarks. In a second post, published the same day, Silva continued his broadside attack. Though Silva published his posts in Portuguese, his statements nevertheless spread like wildfire throughout the MMA and broader sports community in the United States. Indeed a number of media outlets re-published Silva’s statements (translated into English) in various online stories, thereby creating the potential for Silva’s damaging statements to remain publicly available forever…Linking the UFC, its owners and senior management with illegal fight fixing is a direct attack on their reputations and alleged lack of fitness for business.

The offending posts remain up on Silva’s Facebook page (check them out here).

This is a rough spot for Silva, who is still fighting against the lifetime ban from the sport handed down to him by the NSAC in 2014 due to his infamous refusal to submit to a random drug test. Depending on how mad the UFC is, it isn’t hard to imagine them dragging this out as long as possible, simply to send a “don’t mess with us” message.

That said, saying the UFC fixed fights is a really big deal, and it’s not a claim to be made lightly. Punishments for trying to rig the outcome of an event are steep, and could easily land every involved party in prison for years. Oh, and it would almost certainly run the organization out of business. While Silva claimed he had proof of the UFC fixing fights, he hasn’t provided any and is yet to even clearly finger a specific fight as a work.

Silva hasn’t yet made a statement regarding the lawsuit on social media, but expect him to post a rambling, death metal-filled video to his YouTube page in the near future.


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