Should Silva Get Fined for Throwing Shoulder at Sonnen During the Weigh-In?

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Anderson Silva knew exactly what he was doing when he chose to deliberately nudge Chael Sonnen during the UFC 148 weigh-ins on July 7.

Silva, the 37-year-old UFC Middleweight Champion, threw a shoulder that connected square with Sonnen's face, and the fighters had to be separated by UFC President Dana White before the confrontation escalated into an ugly encounter.

Whether you loved the move or hated it, you have to admit it served its purpose of hyping the fight up. Silva's split-second action was well-calculated, as the video clip of the incident immediately went viral.

Within minutes, the Twitter-sphere was filled with tweets about Silva's shoulder into Sonnen's face, and columns much like this one sprouted up across the Internet.

Did Silva cross the line?

In my view, Silva's actions did cross the line and he deserves to be fined.

It was bad judgement on Silva's part because if his shoulder strike connected with Sonnen's nose or opened a cut on his face, it would open the possibility of the long-awaited showdown getting postponed or cancelled.

Sonnen was visibly shaken following the strike, as he stretched his mouth a bit to check for injury to his jaw. Just days earlier, Silva whispered into Sonnen's ear and gave him a little nudge during the UFC 148 presser.

New "No Touching Allowed" Rule?

The weigh-in staredown is supposed to be an exciting moment for the fans to catch a glimpse of the fighters before they engage in battle, and there's really no need for the combatants to touch at all.

It didn't give me any extra motivation to buy the PPV for UFC 137 when Nick Diaz pushed B.J. Penn at the pre-fight weigh-ins, and when Ronda Rousey came close to headbutting Miesha Tate prior to their Strikeforce bout in March, I wasn't any more excited for the bout than I had been prior to the incident.

Pre-fight trash-talking is one thing, but the fighters actually pushing and throwing shoulder strikes during the weigh-ins essentially creates a dangerous situation.

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I say yes. He's a professional and shouldn't be a dipshit.
Give the fine money to a charity of Sonnen's choosing.

If I did that to some dipshit at the bars, said dipshit could likely sue me and win.

Thats what I was thinking. There in the very least has to be a public tongue lashing, other wise people will just think this is ok.

Naw Sonnen's a big boy, when you bring a guys family, country, manhood into the equation like Sonnen has (with impunity) you have to expect another man will do something about it. Anderson heaped huge disrespect on Sonnen directly and to his face twice once at the press conf and again at the weigh in.....

Sonnen was there face to face both times and all he looked to me was scared.....

All the other BS yapping and shit talking Sonnen has done when Anderson has not been there to respond to has ended in the last couple of days.... face to face Sonnen proved what kind of man he is...... a shit talker when his target isn't around .... but a quiet fearful fellow when the man he is insulting is standing right in front of him.... egging him on...

Dana got a chuckle out of it.... the fans got a chuckle out of it.... tonight Sonnen will get what he deserves.... a shit kicking.

Fine Anderson? FUCK NO.... GIVE HIM A BONUS

Actually he has been quiet since a phone call from Renzo Gracie
"I just told him that if he kept that trash talking he would be taking the greatness of the task that he had ahead of him," Gracie said to MMA Fighting. "He is fighting one of the best fighters of our generation, and people would lose the chance to know the real Sonnen, a great athlete who I saw young fighting hard back in the Japan days, building his career as a fierce fighter, a career that ended up turning him into one of the amazing people that populate our great sport."

I don't know...I'm an Anderson fan, but I gotta say, I would agree with a fine. Chael disrespected Anderson...a ton...but only verbally...I think Anderson crossed the line a bit getting physical and throwing a disrepectful move like that.

samger2 wrote:

I don't know...I'm an Anderson fan, but I gotta say, I would agree with a fine. Chael disrespected Anderson...a ton...but only verbally...I think Anderson crossed the line a bit getting physical and throwing a disrepectful move like that.

100% agree