Antonio "Big Foot" Silva Talks Fabricio Werdum, Picks Fedor Emelianenko Over Brett Rogers

by Kid Nate on Oct 14, 2009 5:18 PM EDT in News Comment 23 comments

Big Foot talks to BrasilCombate.com and MMA Mania translates:

"Werdum is a good fighter, very experienced, cautious with good jiu-jitsu. He is famed among Strikeforce heavyweights and I want to be between the best ones to get the chance to fight Fedor, so I have to look for a knockout or a submission victory over him. I have improved my stand-up game in the past two years. I'm more confident, moving better, kicking and punching harder. I'm ready for any circumstance that may come up because my ground game is also very sharpened. It's a fight and anything can happen, but I don't see Rogers knocking out or submitting Fedor, despite his heavy hands. If you observe, he goes towards the opponent with his guard opened and Fedor hits very well in the short distance. I will be rooting for Fedor to keep winning."

I like a lot of things about the Bigfoot Silva vs Werdum match:

Neither Werdum nor Silva can make a very strong case to be worthy of facing the USAT/SBN Consensus MMA Rankings #1 heavyweight in the world in Fedor Emelianenko. Werdum is currently ranked at #13 and Silva is at #22. But a win by either fighter will go a long way toward establishing them as a legit opponent for Fedor.
I'm glad to see Big Foot back in the US again, I hope this means his issues with the CSAC are resolved. He popped positive for steroids under the old Armando Garcia regime of the CSAC. Garcia's testing regimen was so dubious that his successor at the CSAC chose to do no testing for his first several events until a completely new testing regime could be set up.
This should be a good fight that will appeal to casual fight fans tuning in on CBS. Silva will be looking to keep it on the feet and get the KO while Werdum will be looking to get it to the ground and use his world champion BJJ skills. But Silva's not helpless on the ground and Werdum certainly isn't averse to mixing it up on the feet -- ask Gabriel Gonzaga.
The other thing about this is every athlete in the heavyweight division will be rooting for Fedor here. If Brett Rogers manages to upset Emelianenko, you will hear the sound of heavyweights dreaming of a mega-payday fight against Fedor screaming across the land. Not just the Strikeforce guys either. The UFC heavies all want to fight Fedor. The reality is, he's a huge paycheck waiting to happen for any opponent.

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Will BE cover the Strikeforce conference call they just had? This would be a nice place to put that.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/10/14/1085245/mayhem-miller-shields-coker

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/10/14/1085300/strikeforce-conference-call-audio

by MMASuPreMaCy on Oct 14, 2009 5:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

How does Werdum not have a case?

He was ranked very high prior to losing to Cigano and was going to get a title shot, not he’s no good? I’ve grown weary of rankings but the consensus is even worse right now. Randy at 8 despite not winning in 2 years, and losing to an unranked 2-1 fighter. That speaks volumes about the process.

Either fighter is a good fight regardless of where a number places them.

by gunranger on Oct 14, 2009 5:51 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Werdum is legit but I think most fans would like to see Fedor fight different people right now (Overeem first , then winner of Bigfoot Werdum second). The promotions definitely take into consideration the fans wants , look at how Belfort is raced to a title shot in the UFC…

by JoelMan on Oct 14, 2009 5:56 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You may not like the rankings, but the concensus ones look pretty good for HW right now. Often when people are being ranked, how they looked during any given fight, whether they win or lose. Do you seriously think that Werdum looked better in his defeat to Cigano than Couture did losing to Big Nog? Werdum look overweight and underprepared. Can’t say the same about Couture.

Also, saying Couture hasn’t won in a couple years is silly. Before he contract dispute, which was the cause of him not winning, he beat Sylvia and Gonzaga, two highly ranked fighter at the time and has since lost two competitive matches.

Also, I think Couture would probably beat Werdum. Werdum is like a poor man’s Big Nog and wouldn’t be able handle Couture for a whole fight in the way Nog did. So in that way, the ratings seem pretty accurate as well!

by LiuLang on Oct 14, 2009 6:54 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions 0 recs

Nog is not in his prime anymore. Werdum is getting better. Not only that, Werdum has great wins over Vera, Overeem, and TWICE stopping Gonzaga. Werdum lost to Dos Santos, but DS is no joke.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Oct 14, 2009 11:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I’m not really arguing against Werdum per se, I just don’t think he deserves a higher spot than Couture in the rankings. I also don’t necessarily agree he’s getting any better.

He looked horrid against Arlovski and Cigano. The win against Vera was nothing spectacular, he got rocked by Vera and got the stoppage in the last few seconds because Vera decided he’d coast while mounted and he clearly wasn’t hurt.

Werdum hasn’t don anything to impress me in the last couple years outside of his win against Gonzaga, who has his own issues when it comes to performing against upper echelon fighters.

by LiuLang on Oct 15, 2009 9:59 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Very solid card no ?

Fedor – Rogers
Mousasi – Sokoudjou
Bigfoot – Werdum
Mayhem Miller – Jake Shields

It’s not Affliction 3 but it’s a damn good compinsation …very good job . I hope people will tune in because this deserves attention! Too bad CBS aren’t trying more to promote this…

by JoelMan on Oct 14, 2009 5:52 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Erin Toughill vs Marloes Coenen as well.

I actually it’s pretty comparable to Afflilction 3.

Josh Barnett vs. Fedor Emelianenko
Renato "Babalu" Sobral vs. Gegard Mousassi
Vitor Belfort vs Jorge Santiago
Jay Hieron vs. Paul Daley
Paul Buentello vs. Gilvert Yvel

by MMASuPreMaCy on Oct 14, 2009 6:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I hope people will tune in because this deserves attention!

I hope so too, but I’m still skeptical the casual fan tunes in based on what is deserving of attention. I think it’s all in how you market it.

I love me some Sexyama!

by pud333 on Oct 14, 2009 7:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Agreed!!

This is a very solid card and I also dont understand why CBS didnt or doesnt promote it, The casual fan will not be interested in this fight or even know its happening they need to promote Fedor as the best pound 4 pound and play the crapd outta it soo people will be interested…
I got Fedor…Armbar or RnC in the 1st ;)
Mousasi (t)ko in the 2nd
Sheilds Sub or UD
Big foot (t)ko 2nd….??

by N.Mamone on Oct 14, 2009 6:04 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

1.Neither Werdum nor Silva can make a very strong case to be worthy of facing the USAT/SBN Consensus MMA Rankings #1 heavyweight in the world in Fedor Emelianenko. Werdum is currently ranked at #13 and Silva is at #22. But a win by either fighter will go a long way toward establishing them as a legit opponent for Fedor.

and Rogers can

by davec84 on Oct 14, 2009 6:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

don't put words in my mouth

if they’d been able to give Rogers another big fight before facing Fedor that would’ve been better. Hell 3 more fights.

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Kid Nate on Oct 14, 2009 7:37 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Rogers has a good reason for being ranked higher than both Werdum and Silva.

by JRN on Oct 14, 2009 9:13 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Definitely looking forward to this event. CBS should be promoting the shit out of it, but they’re not. Nobody I know knows about it until I tell them.

My thoughts are Fedor, Silva and Miller all walk away with the W.

I love me some Sexyama!

by pud333 on Oct 14, 2009 6:45 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

From Coker:

• Combating recent Internet chatter that CBS has done little to promote the Nov. 7 "Fedor vs. Rogers" card, Coker reminded all that CBS has its own timetable in securing the casual fan outside the hardcore fanbase. In addition, Coker pointed out that CBS ran promo ads during both NFL and college football games last weekend, including the No. 1 most-watched game Saturday night between Florida and LSU. That game netted 10 million viewers.

by MMASuPreMaCy on Oct 14, 2009 6:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yeah, promoting during last weekend’s games was cool. I guess I expected not necessarily a giant blitz or campaign to overwhelm viewers, but I had thought there’d be a little more earlier out. That being said, Nov is coming up soon and I expect it’ll get crazy over the next couple of weeks, especially with UFC 105 ads to contend with.

Considering it’s basically all UFC all the time on Spike, and the fact that UFC 105 would get a lot of advertisement, I guess it could actually help CBS and SF in a way. The UFC events that follow competitor events supposedly benefit from competitor shows. Considering they’re only a week apart, I guess CBS/SF could benefit from the exposure UFC advertisement gives, just like how UFC counterprogramming brings more eyes to their competitors. I hope that made sense.

I love me some Sexyama!

by pud333 on Oct 14, 2009 7:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

cbs needs to do a countdown type show for this event. the ufc/spike ones always get people pumped up for fights/fighters that they may not have ben so excited about at 1rst. this is the best live, FREE, mma event ever imo,(at least on paper, rampage vs hendo was pretty sweet). coker should be up cbs’s executives ass about doing a countdown show. i think it would really help put this show over the top.

by bdw on Oct 14, 2009 7:57 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I can’t pick a winner between Silva and Werdum. Werdum is good in the standup, but I would guess that he will want to take it to the ground. I haven’t seen Silva’s takedown defense, but just on size alone, he may be tough to take down.

by chrisbboy82 on Oct 14, 2009 8:36 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

i think if werdum shows up in the same shape and weight that he did for kyle(228-230) he will win. i think he can hold his own with silva on the feet and will own him on the ground. i have always thought bigfoot was slightly overrated.he struggled with a washed up ricco rodriguez, and has never beaten anyone of note or anyone that is as well rounded as werdum and has mostly beaten cans. this fight will show me if i was right or wrong. :)

by bdw on Oct 14, 2009 8:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

I will admit that I am simply a fan of Antonio Silva mainly because he looks like a real-life Bigfoot. You are correct though in that Silva hasn’t really fought anyone that was that good. I do see potential in him though, but Werdum does have notable advantages over Silva. I guess we’ll see if Silva can hang with some higher-tier Heavyweights.

by chrisbboy82 on Oct 14, 2009 8:53 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

haha

kid nate said bq. legit opponent for Fedor.

he’s so funny…

by Beren on Oct 14, 2009 9:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

thanks

not sure what you mean by “bq.”
I’m just saying that the winner of Werdum/Silva will be a more legit opponent for Fedor than either is before they fight each other.

Follow me on Twitter @KidNate

by Kid Nate on Oct 15, 2009 12:42 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs