On Monday, the UFC Middleweight champ Anderson decided he’d rather head home to Brazil than attend a UFC 162 media event. The media day was scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to coincide with tickets for the July 7 event going on sale this week. Silva’s appearance was supposed to help build the headlining fight where he’ll attempt to defend his title against Chris Weidman.
In response to his absence, UFC president Dana White announced that the promotion fined Silva $50K (via MMA Junkie):
We had a full media day set up for him in Los Angeles, and he just decided he didn’t want to do it, so he’s being fined $50,000.
He doesn’t like talking to the media, but it’s part of his contractual obligation,” White said. “Everybody wants more money, more money, more money, but nobody wants to sell the fight or go out and talk to the media. Talking to the media is part of your job, whether you like it or not.
The last headliner to skip out on a media event was Nick Diaz, who blew off a press conference prior to his scheduled championship fight at UFC 137. Diaz was immediately removed from the fight and replaced by Carlos Condit. White explained the lesser punishment for Silva by saying this “was just a smaller media day (not a press conference), but it’s still not acceptable.” So, Anderson is still all set to face Weidman as the main event of UFC 162 in Las Vegas, NV on July 7.