Wanderlei Silva will be a part of the Bellator 131 “Pre-Party Kickoff” as he will appear at Dave & Buster’s this Friday, November 14th according to a Bellator press release.
Via Bellator press release:
The festivities surrounding Saturday’s #Bellator131 continue to grow as Bellator will host a pre-party kickoff event from San Diego’s Dave & Buster’s on Friday, November 14. After weigh-ins, fans are invited to take pictures and have autographs signed with MMA legends Royce Gracie, Randy Couture, Frank Shamrock, and now MMA icon Wanderlei Silva beginning at6pm PST. Silva will join the other MMA legends in attendance for #Bellator 131 on Saturday, November 15.
“After we saw just an overwhelming response to our Bellator Fan Fest a few weeks ago, we wanted to once again give our fans a chance to be a part of something special and give everyone the opportunity to spend time with a group of fighters that built the sport we all love,” Bellator President Scott Coker said. “We have events taking place all week around the San Diego area as we prepare for the biggest night of fights in company history, and we want everyone to be a part of it.”
The press release announced Silva as “The Axe Murder.”
Payout Perspective:
This is an interesting move on behalf of Bellator. If you recall, Scott Coker came out against performance enhancement drugs after four of the company’s fighters tested positive for illegal substances after Bellator 127. Per a Bellator press release, Coker stated, “I want to make very clear that under new management, Bellator will simply not stand for performance enhancement drugs inside our cage.” Silva fled a drug test earlier this year and was subsequently banned by the Nevada Athletic Commission and levied a $70,000 fine. And yes, we understand, Silva will not be inside a Bellator cage, but making an appearance on behalf of the organization.
But, if we disregard this fact, Silva will provide some name notoriety for the lead-up to this Saturday’s big Bellator event which will go up against UFC 180. Silva will join Royce Gracie, Randy Couture and Frank Shamrock at D&B this Friday.
Suspensions and retirement do NOT negate contracts…Silva needs to learn his place..stop the fight talks with other promotions [sonnen in brazil/barani in china/ bellator] …b4 the Zuffa shuts him down…
Couture tried this before… He retired from the UFC to try to fight Fedor…
Good for Wanderlei!
Wanderlei was removed from Bellator due to contractual obligations to the UFC! I called it!!
@John_Frederickson – Good call. It made no sense for Bellator to go through with reaching out to Silva if this was a possibility of happening.