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 More good news / bad news on the UFC Montreal front ... bad news first. Anderson Silva seems to be implying that he's accepted a fight with Thales Leites for the card:He is rumoured to be facing Thales Leites at UFC 97 and while the fight has not yet been officially confirmed, Silva says he is reasonably sure the bout is on. And on the good side, Jake might get an opportunity to be bored in person by the Mir / Lesnar 2 fight: UFC president Dana White says that the long-awaited finale to the organisation's heavyweight title 'tournament' may take place at in April. So it appears that Montreal may be getting two title shots at one event. But don't get your hopes too high up ... I'm passing this information on to you because it's out there and it's my pseudo-job. Do I really think the UFC is going to stack a Canadian UFC with two belt fights when so many other cards are ending up with none? Not really. But there is one semi-logical explanation here. Anderson Silva gets a cut of PPV money, and he can't be happy with the stream of lame opponents that aren't helping carry the ticket. So was a co-main with Brock involved the only way to get him to accept the Leites fight? Brock has proven to be an awesome PPV draw, and that means more money in Anderson's pocket. But that still begs the question: Why Thales Leites? Why? Why?? Why??? What the fuck is that all about? Does Leites' manager have Dana White's family tied up somewhere in the jungles of South America or something?  It's possible. But Lesnar also gets a significant cut of the PPV money (possibly Mir does as well but I don't know) so would Zuffa want a double big cut before they get theirs?  Lesnar's % is likely much bigger than Silva's as Lesnar's PPV's have been known to pull in 600k+ viewers while Silva is only pulling in around 300k+ on average. On top of that, Frank Mir is not a big enough draw to get a PPV percentage. I highly doubt he gets a cut.And with the numbers a card featuring both Lesnar and Anderson Silva would hypothetically draw, I don't think the UFC is worried. Lesnar and Couture both received percentages for their main event fight and that didn't stop the company. They'll still be making bank either way, and giving Anderson tons of cash could counter the fact that they're giving him a pretty shite opponent. I was under the impression from what Dana said in the past that all headliners in the main and co-main get a cut. Obviously not the size Liddell or Lesnar gets but he did say everyone involved gets a percentage in one of his defenses of low UFC pay outs. Maybe while defending when Rich Franklin was getting paid a ridiculously low amount (I think 20K ac champion) That's interesting. I never read that anywhere.It makes sense in Franklin's case when he was listed at 20k. I was sure he was getting more than that under the table. If a guy is listed as a featured fighter it would seem that some of the promotion is built around him than he would be entitled to some percentage. I know these guys are compensated for what their worth and am sick of the argument for an increase in fighter wages but I'd still like to know if every headliner gets a cut or just guys like Liddell, Couture, Lesnar, Tito, etc.  I still don't get your problem with the Leites fight.The guy is on a five fight winning streak since dropping a decision in his Octagon debut, he is 14-1 overall, has excellent jiu-jitsu, an iron chin, and a win over a top 10 MW (albeit a controversial one). Who else in the UFC MW division has better credentials for a title shot? The only guy who comes close IMO is Okami, and in his lone fight versus a top 10 opponent he was basically a zombie for the first two rounds against Franklin before finally getting his thumb out of his ass and finishing strong in the third. Net, Okami shat the bed in his lone fight versus a contender, while Leites went to war and emerged with a victory despite getting spiked on his head. Also, you will notice, Leites finished that fight after getting fouled rather than playing possum and trying to eke out a win via DQ. While I personally would prefer to see the Okami fight (since I think Anderson will be in a murderous frame of mind versus the guy who sandbagged his way to a DQ victory), I don't think it is any great injustice that Leites is getting the fight instead. He is as good an opponent as any available in the MW division.  "Leites went to war and emerged with a victory despite getting spiked on his head."You say that like he high kicked Marquardt into the third row. Nate dominated 99% and we all saw it. I can't even memmer the last time someone was audibly gargling their own blood during a fight. I really doubt that if Leites' manager had Dana's family tied up in the South American jungle somewhere his demand would be to fight Anderson Silva. Wanting to fight a man who can end a fight in any violent manner he could think of would definately be a lot lower then no. 1 on my list of demands.
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