Wanderlei Silva getting sued by former manager
A past business relationship is coming back to haunt Brazilian mixed martial arts legend Wanderlei “The Axe Murderer” Silva. Silva revealed on Monday 22 November that his former trainer, Rafael Alejarra, is suing Silva over a business arrangement the two had
in the past.
“I got a citation from the labor court of law of Porto Alegre. Who might have filed a labour suit against me in Porto Alegre?” wrote Silva in Portuguese on Twitter, translated into English by
Sherdog.com.
He elaborated on the situation with, “I only had a physical trainer who I fed, housed and gave a car, plus $4000 a month, working or not. How people are, huh? It was him.”
But Silva, who is beloved by MMA fans for his aggressive style, straightforward attitude and devotion from his fans, has a different perspective on it than Alejarra.
The two trained together from 2005 to 2007 in Brazil. From there they moved to Las Vegas, the centre of American MMA, to found Silva’s gym, the Wand Fight Team MMA Gym. The two ended business relationships in 2009 after Silva lost two straight fights.
Since then Silva has trained with Rafael Cordeiro and revived his career somewhat by defeating Michael Bisping at UFC 110. Alejarra is contending that Silva still owes him money, particularly as the successful gym Silva founded uses some training tricks that
Alejarra taught Silva.
While Silva was outspoken about the situation on Twitter, Alejarra kept mum when contacted by
Sherdog.com.
“I’d rather not talk publicly about that; this subject does not concern the fans or media. This is a professional and personal case that both parties believe are right, so there is nothing better than the law to judge who is right and who is wrong.”
“Once the subject is in the law’s hands, I don’t think it’s right for me to make public statements, giving my version and saying bad things about the other side, so this is the last time I talk about that for the press.”
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