Tweet
Either way you want to look at it, you still can't compare the two. Let's say most of the animosity is fabricated, it still creates added pressure and tension for the fight. No one wants to talk a lot of trash and then not back it up. You think Silva didn't have extra motivation fighting Sonnen? None of the pre-fight meant anything? He didn't care about letting his entire country down and allowing Sonnen to get away with the trash talk (real or not)? The proof is in the way he fought - we haven't seen Silva that intense in a fight aside from his match with Vitor. In the WWF it doesn't matter, there's no added pressure because everything is pre-determined, so the trash talk and build up really means nothing from a competitive standpoint.
When I say animosity though I'm thinking of the following fights/rivalries, and not random light-hearted verbal jabs:
Wanderlei vs Rampage
Rousey vs Tate
Sonnen vs Silva
DC vs Jones - when they meet, there's going to be legit bad blood there
Diaz vs GSP
Rampage vs Evans
Again, showing respect for your opponent after a fight is expected and doesn't lessen anything. Penn is the only big name fighter I can think of who not only respects, but "loves" and wants to have a beer with the fighters that he supposedly hated. You don't see Wanderlei and Rampage hanging out with each other or even wanting to.
When I say animosity though I'm thinking of the following fights/rivalries, and not random light-hearted verbal jabs:
Wanderlei vs Rampage
Rousey vs Tate
Sonnen vs Silva
DC vs Jones - when they meet, there's going to be legit bad blood there
Diaz vs GSP
Rampage vs Evans
Again, showing respect for your opponent after a fight is expected and doesn't lessen anything. Penn is the only big name fighter I can think of who not only respects, but "loves" and wants to have a beer with the fighters that he supposedly hated. You don't see Wanderlei and Rampage hanging out with each other or even wanting to.
Comment