Most people have seen the viral footage of Brazilian legend Wanderlei Silva being viciously knocked out during a post-fight melee following being disqualified during an exhibition boxing match.
Silva returned to the ring last Saturday in an exhibition bout in Sao Paulo, Brazil against former Brazilian boxing champion Acelino Freitas. Silva was repeatedly warned by the referee about fouls, including blatant headbutts. The referee disqualified Silva in the fourth round after a reported fourth headbutt, and all hell broke loose.
Both teams rushed the ring and a melee ensued. In the wild brawl, the former PRIDE FC champion was knocked unconscious by his opponent’s son. Some have said that Silva got what he deserved, but former rival of the “Axe Murderer” Chael Sonnen disagrees.
“The fight happens and Wanderlei headbutts the opponent,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “The headbutt ends up happening a total of four times, and the referee says, ‘enough, you’re disqualified.’ It is at that point all the shenanigans you’ve seen on social media and the videos that are going viral takes place.”
“Wanderlei, for the most part, is staying on his side of the ring. He’s watching turmoil,” Sonnen continued. “Wanderlei has his own guys going to the other side of the ring, and Wanderlei himself, though, is staying on his part when a guy comes in under the ropes on Wanderlei’s side. Comes from around Wanderlei, Wanderlei’s back, but he throws like a hook motion and punches Wanderlei.
“It’s complete chaos. At some point, this same gentleman, he’s wearing a tuxedo, gets in front of Wanderlei, comes at him and throws a punch. Wanderlei does not know he’s fighting this guy. Wanderlei isn’t trying to fight nobody. In fact, from the footage that I’ve seen, it looks as though Wanderlei would like to calm this thing down. The guy hits him. The guy knocks him out.”
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While Silva was disqualified, his actions took place during the competition. His punishment was disqualification. Everything that happened afterward was outside the boundaries of competition and inside the realm of criminal.
“Wanderlei’s side has come forward and said, ‘We’re suing them. That is a crime. That is an assault, and we’re going to sue you guys.’ Now, I had somebody else come out and say, ‘Yes, that looks very bad, but you have to understand how they got there.’ They got there through Wanderlei doing an illegal action to the point that it was ruled illegal and Wanderlei was punished in the form of a disqualification,” said Sonnen.
“Whether this is his opponent’s son or not, he has nothing to do with this. He is not supposed to be there, and he’s got no justification to hit Wanderlei. But there was a little bit of chatter back and forth that the son was somehow justified. And that’s the part where I’ve got to stop you,” Sonnen continued.
“We have two different things happening here. We have a boxing event that comes with rules. It’s an adjudication, and the judge of that adjudication is known as the referee who saw the headbutt, who gave a warning for the headbutt, who was tired of giving warnings for the headbutts and ultimately ruled a loss, a disqualification. At that point, the boxing match is over. You are no longer protected by the commission. You’re no longer protected by the sanctity of sport. They are now done.
“If an unlicensed third person enters the ring, not only do you have a trespass – It would be illegal for somebody to even be present in that moment. He is now punching a tired and gloved up, un-expecting Wanderlei. That is a crime.”
“Wanderlei did not headbutt the son. Wanderlei did not fight the guy who hit him. Wanderlei did not headbutt anybody outside of the jurisdiction of the boxing match,” added Sonnen. “Wanderlei did not deserve to be punched. He did not deserve to have to fight somebody that wasn’t the person her agreed to fight. Wanderlei did not deserve to be attacked by somebody who is not wearing gloves, who’s hands are not wrapped, who is completely fresh and attacking him from behind. Wanderlei is completely the victim in this situation.”
