Wanderlei Silva calls Vitor Belfort disrespectful for breaking hand, pulling out of UFC 147 bout

If you have a fight scheduled with Wanderlei Silva, you need to give your bones very stern instructions not to break. If they do go against your wishes and snap in two, that's disrespect.

Vitor Belfort is currently coaching against Silva on the Brazilian version of "The Ultimate Fighter" and was slated to fight him at UFC 147. A broken hand forced Belfort out of their bout. UFC president Dana White said Belfort needs surgery. Though training injuries are part of the game in MMA, Silva called it "amateurism" via his Twitter account.

"(Fighting me) with one hand (laughs)? We are professionals. It's a great irresponsibility not to be careful on training, a great disrespect towards the fans. I'm really sad. I'm ready to knock you out, you have nowhere to run. This fight is happening. I guess you got scared of me. Nobody trains so hard that breaks his hand. We use the best equipments, gloves, bandages.

"If you were scared, you shouldn't have accepted it. If you really got it broken, it's amateurism and if you didn't, you're scared. In both scenarios, it was irresponsible of you towards the fans. Pardon the word, but I'm pissed with your amateurism. A main event on the biggest event of the world and the guy shows up like that".

Strong words from Silva, especially considering that he has pulled out of fights with injuries. In 2010, cracked ribs kept him from the co-main event of UFC 116 against Yoshihiro Akiyama.

Ease up, Wand. As you well know, injuries are part of a sport that asks its competitors to hit each other as hard as possible. Hands and ribs break. Ligaments tear. Life goes on. Belfort has been in 30 professional MMA bouts, so it's hard to believe he's scared, or that he broke his hand on purpose to get out of this fight. And if he could have, wouldn't he have done that to get out of getting kicked in the face by Anderson Silva?

Thanks to Tatame for translation help.

leap day michigan primary results olympia snowe davey jones dead boston weather monsanto dr seuss birthday