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CBS Radio Host
Join Date: Mar 2006
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Joe Silva: "We never even made an offer to Mousasi"
Silva Speaks: “We never even MADE an offer to Mousasi”
By: Carmichael Dave
CBS RADIO
While UFC matchmaker Joe Silva is a name hardcore fans will recognize, unlike his boss Dana White, you never see his comments on record. Although inarguably one of the organization’s most powerful players, Silva has long toiled behind the scenes, content to wield his matchmaking wand in relative anonymity.
So imagine our surprise when we were given the opportunity to talk with Silva, on the record. What would bring about such a massive change in policy?
Gegard Mousasi, that’s what.
Buried beneath the rubble of the now defunct Fedor Emelianenko/UFC negotiations, Mousasi is a fighter many fervent MMA fans know well, and want to see fighting under the UFC banner. Unlike Fedor however, Mousasi doesn’t carry the same international fervor.
When Affliction folded, there was a feeding frenzy on many of the now orphaned fighters. Silva of course worked to secure as much talent as made sense to his organization, and people naturally thought that Mousasi would be high on that list.
Shortly after Mousasi announced a deal with Strikeforce, the internet fun began. Reports surfaced that the fighter’s management, M-1 (you guessed it, same as Emelianenko) had misled him in regards to the figures the UFC offered.
When asked about these reports, he was diplomatic, stating:
"I am fighting in Strikeforce now and Scott (Coker, Strikeforce Chief) has always been honest to me," Mousasi told Fighters Only. "I have a contract with Strikeforce and I am going to honor that."
When asked about allegations that his management had misled him about the value of the UFC offer, Mousasi declined comment.
I decided to contact the UFC to get their angle, since Mousasi obviously had moved on, at least publicly. I reached Joe Silva by phone in Philadelphia, PA in advance of UFC 101 on Saturday. When I approached him regarding Mousasi, Silva elaborated.
“Gegard called me about a week ago. He asked if it was true that the UFC offered 40/40 (40k to show, 40k bonus to win), Silva said. “I told him no, because we never actually made an offer.”
Wait, what?
“When Affliction folded, we obviously looked at a lot of their talent available. Mousasi was interesting, but he had also just signed a deal to appear in the EA Sports video game,” Silva stated. “We had gotten word from above to stay away from anyone involved in the EA game process.
So the 40/40 figure was obviously erroneous, right?
“Not only did we not make an offer, but we would’ve assumed his Affliction contract and its terms. So whatever Affliction was paying him, that’s what we would’ve honored, and it was considerably more than 40/40,” Silva continued.
Several sources say Mousasi was in the neighborhood of $125,000 per fight plus a smaller bonus tied in as well.
“So not only did we not offer 40/40, but HAD we made an offer it would’ve been more than that, and that’s what I explained to Gegard.”
Obviously this wasn’t a closed subject back in Camp Mousasi, as a few days later, M-1’s Apy Echteld called Silva to clarify events. What resulted though, was even more ambiguity, according to Silva.
“Apy called me about a week later, wanting to clarify things. He said that there was some miscommunication between his fighter and management. The tone of the call was very polite,” Silva explained.
But when Silva inquired as to how all of this started, that’s when things got a little murky.
“Apy told me that he had a UFC source tell him that we were going to offer 40/40, and it was relayed to Mousasi. I asked Apy who the source was, and he declined to tell me. I explained that we never offered any sort of deal, and things sort of ended there,” Silva continued.
As to reports that Silva was on the phone with all parties during much of the negotiations, he quickly shot those down.
“I’ve never been on the phone with Gegard and his management simultaneously. In fact, the only time I’ve been on the phone with Gegard during all of this was when he called me a week ago.”
Mixed martial arts once again enjoyed the spotlight recently, but for something familiar to any mainstream sport: politics. The soap opera, and “he said, she said” propaganda war between M-1 Global and the UFC titillated many.
If there was one word to describe the Affliction demise/Fedor negotiations/Fedor and Strikeforce signing/Mousasi signing, it might be “ambiguity”. Who is telling the truth?
Who knows.
Here’s to finally getting back to the fights fans want to see most: fighter vs fighter.
Perhaps, however, the “politics” of the sport are yet one more sign that MMA is continuing its growth toward the world of MLB, NBA, and the NFL.
It was inevitable, wasn’t it?
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