Much of the anticipation for the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch for the UFC Middleweight Championship this summer at UFC 148 is built on the outlandish statements made by Sonnen, as the "Gangster From America" has shown himself willing to say anything and everything he can to get under the skin of the UFC Middleweight Champion. Recently, though Silva reminded MMA fans that he's no stranger to odd behavior.
In his latest video blog to promote the Silva vs. Sonnen fight at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on July 7 (see below), Silva spoke about one of his hobbies away from training: writing Batman fan fiction.
"It's the best one yet," Silva said of his latest work. "It's what is gonna save Batman."
The idea for the story, in all honesty, isn't bad, built off of the fact that unlike other comic book heroes - for example, Superman, the Incredible Hulk or the X-Men - Batman has no unnatural powers, and can age just like any other man. Silva plans to begin his story with an aging Batman, presumably no longer up to the hard-hitting exploits for which he's famous.
Just one problem: DC Comics has been there and done that, with The Dark Knight Returns in 1986.
In addition, with The Dark Knight having grossed over $1 billion worldwide at the box office and The Dark Knight Rises being one of the most anticipated releases of the summer, the idea of the Batman franchise needing "saving" is delusional.
Of course, it's not like Silva doesn't have a history of eccentricity. His behavior in his middleweight title defenses against Patrick Côté, Thales Leites and Demian Maia confused and angered UFC fans, and eventually infuriated UFC president Dana White to the point where he threatened to cut the world's top pound-for-pound fighter. That stopped with the first Sonnen-Silva fight - the Spider's last three fights have ended in thrilling finishes - but there's no doubt that Silva has a peculiar streak to him.
Sonnen is unquestionably the more natural villain among the two middleweights, as his statement's about Silva's home country of Brazil have bordered on bigotry, and he's unquestionably the one who's made things personal with Silva.
However, when it comes to eccentricity, Silva's plan to "save" Batman shows that the Spider can certainly hold his own.