Sirb warns UFC fighters to bring their ‘A’ game to Philly

Bernard Fernandez, Philadelphia Daily News

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009 | 2:05 a.m.

PHILADELPHIA — Thankfully, Greg Sirb did not mention Santa Claus being pelted with snowballs at Franklin Field or J.D. Drew dodging batteries in the Veterans Stadium outfield. But the fighters and officials here for UFC 101 — some of whom had traveled from Brazil and Hawaii — probably got the gist of the message the executive director of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission was trying to convey.

Philadelphia is a rough-and-tumble sports town where anything less than an athlete’s best effort, even if that person plays for the home team, is likely to result in a cacophony of boos and catcalls.

“I want to tell these fighters: This ain’t Vegas. This ain’t Jersey. This is Philly,” Sirb said in his tough-love greeting to the UFC visitors at yesterday afternoon’s news conference at the Independence Visitor Center in Old City.

“They have great fighters in Vegas, no disrespect. They have great fighters in New Jersey, no disrespect. But this is Philly. It’s a little different here. If you bring your ‘A’ game, (the crowd) will bring their ‘A’ game. If you bring your ‘B’ game, they’ll bring their ‘B’ game. And the ‘B’ game is you-know-what. They’ll boo you if you bring your ‘B’ game.”

Sirb is a former college wrestler and feisty, but he’s a little guy whose iron-fisted administration of the PSAC might not be common knowledge throughout the UFC, with tomorrow’s card being only the 13th mixed martial arts card in the state (and by far the biggest) since the Legislature formally approved the sport in February. A cautionary warning from Sirb about the eat-their-young mentality of Philadelphia sports audiences isn’t likely to strike fear into the hearts of such veteran fighters as BJ Penn, Kenny Florian, Anderson Silva and Forrest Griffin, who were seated at the dais.

Then again, Sirb merely was reiterating what UFC President Dana White already had made plain to the contestants in the two co-featured bouts. Making a favorable impression in Philly is important for the UFC, eager to expand its East Coast operation into New York and Massachusetts, which have yet to give MMA their legislative stamps of approval. But, mainly, White wants the expected turnout of 17,000 to leave the Wachovia Center pumped because, well, a good fight town deserves good fights.

“It’s a great fight town, Philly,” said White, a one-time amateur boxer. “Joe Frazier, Marvin Hagler, Roberto Duran, Michael Spinks, Tommy Hearns … all those guys have fought here.”

White has been doing whatever it takes to convince the top draws on tomorrow night’s card to give not only their best effort, but their most exciting effort.

Silva might be the best pound-for-pound MMA fighter in the world, but, coming off two performances in which he won but did not deliver his usual quota of thrills, he was publicly chided by White for not bringing down the house. That won’t be good enough in Philly, White stressed, in a diatribe that was no doubt punctuated by the occasional expletive. If profanity were a language, White speaks it fluently.

So, how did Silva react to being upbraided like a prelim guy?

“Dana’s the boss,” Silva responded with a shrug at a workout earlier in the week. Which is to say, whatever Dana wants, Dana usually gets.

White knows what buttons to press. He can hand someone a verbal bouquet soon after administering a tongue-lashing, as apparently was the case with Penn, who is coming off a one-sided loss to Georges St-Pierre in January in which his stamina receded like low tide.

“BJ Penn’s good at everything,” White said. “BJ Penn is great at everything. But BJ Penn’s worst enemy is BJ Penn. He and I have butted heads so many times.

“Of all the things he’s accomplished throughout his career, 70 percent of it was when he was out of shape. Now he’s in shape.”

Is it any wonder why Penn rededicated himself to training?

Fernandez is a reporter for the Philadelphia Daily News. The Sun and Daily News are sharing stories in covering UFC 101.