Dida (right) is a muay thai coach on Wand's (left) TUF team. Photo: Reproduction/Facebook
the fight between Chael Sonnen e Wanderlei Silva was, without a doubt, the most anticipated moment by fans in the third season of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil. However, after the images of the confusion were shown this Sunday (13), the intervention of assistant coach André Dida, who also attacked the North American, ended up overshadowing the altercation between the rivals. In an interview, Dida justified her attitude, saying that she attacked Sonnen to make him stop fighting with Wanderlei.
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“I'm a trainer and I have my own gym. I tell people not to do something like that. My intention was to separate them, but I had to do something. I acted on pure instinct. Sonnen has a bad reputation in Brazil, he talks shit about everyone, so it's difficult for me to regret (what I did). I couldn't leave Wanderlei Silva in a situation like this”, said Dida, in an interview with the “MMA Fighting” website.
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The muay thai coach also presented his version of what happened. “The coaches were behind the doors when they started arguing. I know the Wanderlei Silva, and I know he was getting ready to fight, so we all ran towards him. My intention was to get Wanderlei out of there, but everything happened very quickly. When I got close, Sonnen took him down. My intention was to separate them, but I saw Sonnen trying to punch him, so, in my mind, I thought I had to get Sonnen out of there as quickly as possible to make him stop punching Wanderlei. I would never leave Wanderlei in a bad situation. I punched Sonnen to make him stop, but he didn't stop. They tried to get me out of there, but I came back and punched him again. I just wanted to get Sonnen out of there”, he said.
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Finally, André responded to the criticism he has received, especially on social media, about the way he attacked Sonnen. “Many called me a coward, but that is not the truth. I would be a coward if I hadn't done anything. I was seeing someone I've admired since I was 13 in a bad situation, so I needed to do something. My body told me to hit him to end the fight. I wanted Sonnen to get up and fight me. I wanted to get him off Wanderlei, and now people call me a coward. Imagine that you are in the supermarket and someone attacks your mother, your brother. Your instinct tells you to stop it as quickly as possible. I did the same thing with Wanderlei as soon as I saw that Sonnen was trying to hurt him”, he concluded.
After the incident, Dida had to sign a conduct agreement to remain in the UFC
All the confusion surrounding the fight between Chael Sonnen e Wanderlei Silva, in addition to Dida's aggression towards the North American, did not go unnoticed in the eyes of Ultimate. The organization, which has a very strict internal code of conduct, demanded that the muay thai coach sign a term in which he undertakes to no longer be involved in episodes such as the TUF recordings, under penalty of no longer being able to perform in no UFC-related activities.
“I had to sign a contract stating that I will never be involved in anything like that again in the UFC or I will be banned from the corner. What happened on the program died there. If something worse had happened to Sonnen, maybe they would have decided something different”, said Dida, who after the incident during the recording of the reality show was Godofredo Pepy's cornerman at UFC Fight Night 39, in Natal (RN), on the 23rd. of March.
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