In the Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen rematch for the UFC Middleweight Championship, Dana White and company already had the most eagerly anticipated MMA fight of the summer. And with Sonnen willing to say anything and everything to get under the skin of the UFC Middleweight Champ - not to mention Silva's newfound desire to respond in kind - the UFC promotional team really didn't need to do anything special to hype up the fight.
They did anyway.
The UFC is promoting the main event of the UFC 148 fight card, which goes down July 7 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, with a special comic strip, being revealed one panel at a time on the promotion's Facebook page (Facebook.com/UFC). The story, titled "The Silver Spider vs. The American Gangsta," began on Sunday, and will continue to run through fight day.
While Silva's superhero of choice appears to be Batman, his "Spider" nickname makes him a natural choice to dress up in a blue and gold variation on a Spiderman costume, while Sonnen's superhero costume works off of a Captain America motif, playing on Sonnen's infamous taunt, "You are an immigrant from Brazil; I am a gangster from America."
Thus far, the superhero costumes haven't lasted past the title page; though. The comic book panels depict Silva and Sonnen training for their fight, with thought and speech bubbles using the real-life dialogue between Silva and Sonnen to tell the story. Silva's old friend Steven Seagal even makes an appearance, depicted in the background while Silva kicks a heavy bag in Wednesday's panel.
UFC fans have been dialed into the promotion's Facebook page for some time now, as the UFC makes preliminary fights from its events available through the social networking site. However, the promotion is doing a great job of getting an already excited fanbase even more worked up over the fight, which could lead to even more fans watching when Silva and Sonnen finally get into the Octagon on July 7.
