Don’t sleep on “Bigfoot” against Fedor; ProMMAnow.com talks with manager Alex Davis

Despite a 15-2 professional record, with 10 knockouts, three submissions and notable wins over Mike Kyle, Andrei Arlovski, Justin Eilers, Ricco Rodriguez and others, there are not many people giving Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva a chance against Fedor Emelianenko (31-2, 1 NC) this weekend in the opening round of the Strikeforce heavyweight tournament.

ProMMAnow.com (www.prommanow.com) sponsor, LinesMaker (www.linesmaker.com), has the odds currently set at -525 for Fedor and +325 for Silva.

ProMMAnow.com spoke with Silva’s manager, Alex Davis, this past week to get his thoughts on the match-up and why he feels so few people are giving his fighter a chance to win.

He began by comparing Fedor’s fights against Werdum and Arlovski to the fights Silva had with them.

And he always refers to Antonio Silva as “Junior”.

“If we take a logical look at it, think about it. With Werdum, Junior almost killed Werdum and lost by very very close difference. Some people even say he won. Okay. Werdum submitted Fedor,” explained Davis.

“Arlovski was getting the upper hand with the boxing in the match with Fedor before he tried to do that stupid flying knee and got caught with that counter straight. So to say that Fedor is going to run over Junior and is going to do this and do that, it’s just unrealistic. It’s just completely unrealistic.”

Davis  is not blind to Fedor’s skills, and realizes coming off a loss he will be extra motivated. He also knows the capabilities of his fighter.

“Fedor is a great fighter. We all have great respect for him,” said Davis. “He is coming out hungry which is going to make for a very dangerous Fedor, but Junior is no slouch. And to say that, ‘Aw well Fedor is just going to run him over,’ well that’s just unrealistic. … To say that Junior doesn’t have a chance is a bit far-fetched.”

“Bigfoot” made the comment leading up to this fight that he thought Werdum had shown the blueprint on how to beat Fedor. But Davis disagreed with that assessment.

“I agree that if Fedor has a weak spot it’s going to be his ground work. But Junior and Werdum are completely different fighters and their styles are different and everything is different,” explained Davis.

“ I see Junior fighting from the top rather than the bottom. Junior has very good jiu-jitsu too and a lot of stuff people haven’t seen yet. He’s just never used it in a fight.”

Davis pointed out one of the major reasons Silva may not need to try and emulate what Werdum did.

“First of all, Junior is way better than Werdum standing up,” said Davis. “Junior is not going to be afraid of standing in there with Fedor until he gets to where he wants to be during the fight. That’s why I think it’s completely different. I mean, I don’t see Junior trying to do a triangle on Fedor.”

If Silva gets past Fedor, his next fight will be against the winner of Andrei Arlovski vs. Sergei Kharitonov. Silva already defeated Arlovski last May via unanimous decision in St. Louis.

I asked Davis if he had a preference of who Silva fought next.

“You know, it doesn’t really matter to me,” said Davis. “I’m comfortable, I think Junior can fight anybody. He might win, he might lose, but he’s definitely capable of fighting anybody. We have taken a stance different from everyone else. We are not picking fights. We’ll fight anybody they put in front of us and we really don’t care.”

If Silva were to get through Fedor, and then get through the next round which would be the semifinals, he will move on to the finals where he will face either Josh Barnett, Brett Rogers, Alistair Overeem or Fabricio Werdum.

I asked Davis if he could pick anyone for Junior to face in the finals, a fight that would be a good match-up for him and exciting for the fans, who would he pick.

“The only one I’d rather not fight, not because of the fight, but because we have ended up being friends is Werdum. But if they have to fight again, it’s not personal, it’s professional,” said Davis.

“I think that Overeem is probably going to be in the finals and I think that’s a fight that probably makes sense for Junior, but like I said, it don’t matter.”

If you look closely at Silva’s trunks this weekend you will see a logo that reads “Combat Athletes for Nova Friburgo”, a nonprofit formed to help raise money to support the relief effort in Nova Friburgo, Brazil, where mudslides have killed close to a thousand people and left many more homeless and out of work.

Nova Friburgo is Alex Davis’ hometown and his 22-year-old son literally saw friends and family members die right in front of him while he helped with rescue efforts.

Please check out the Combat Athletes for Nova Friburgo group on Facebook and visit www.combatathletecharities.com where you can make donations in any amount. People are always skeptical about charities but Alex assured me they will make all the information public regarding the funds.

This is our MMA, BJJ and combat sports community and their families here. If you visit the Facebook page you will recognize many of the names involved and the people who have been affected by this disaster. If you are able and feel moved to help, please do so.