Mark Spector

Mark Spector is a columnist for sportsnet.ca

Anderson Silva, left, probably embarrassed himself at UFC 112 more than he did his opponent Demian Maia.

In a sport that’s all about entertaining, Anderson Silva comes across as if he thinks he's special.

LAS VEGAS -- For some perspective, let's go back to last April. UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi.

Anderson Silva, the fighter that Dana White today puts ahead of George St-Pierre as the best in the world -- and the headliner here against Vitor Belfort on Saturday night -- had just danced around the ring for five rounds, running his mouth, boring the fans and infuriating the boss en route to a one-sided decision win over Demian Maia.

Afterwards, White admitted in an interview, "(Silva) is waiting for me. I just sent him to my trailer."

An exasperated White then proceeds to tear Silva -- a prize member of White's UFC stable who was in the midst of winning 13 straight fights -- to shreds.

"I'm really embarrassed," White said. "I don't know the answer. I don't know how to fix this.

"Anderson doesn't interest me right now."

The worst thing about Silva's blatant lack of engagement in the fight?

"He doesn't feel like he owes the fans an apology. Yet, I'm apologizing," White said that night. "I didn't go in and fight like a jackass for five rounds. I didn't do what he did tonight. But I'm embarrassed, and I feel like I should apologize to the fans."

Now fast forward to Wednesday afternoon in Las Vegas, at the Mandalay Bay press conference that kicked off the UFC's Super Bowl show. Silva was once again refusing to play ball. His answers were short, offered up in Portuguese only from behind jet black shades.

Granted he doesn't speak English, but he has tried a little harder before. Not Wednesday.

In a sport that's selling personalities better than anyone else, Silva comes across as if he thinks he's special. Like he doesn't have to play ball the way everyone else does; the way fellow Brazilian Belfort does, answering in both Portuguese and English.

Always trying to tell a story about who he is, and what he values. Selling the card, selling the sport.

"I will be there to fight, and to do my best," Belfort said when asked. "That's the only thing that Dana and UFC asks of the fighters. I'm not thinking of anything else."

Has Silva put the whole UFC 112 episode behind him?

"No," he says.

No one gives one-word answers at Dana White's press conferences, do they?

There's only one problem. It's difficult to stay mad at your best guy.

Just ask the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"My relationship with Anderson is fine," White told Sportsnet after the press conference. "I'm always the guy out there saying, 'This is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.' A lot of people debate that, but in my opinion, it's 100 per cent Anderson Silva."

White wasn't saying that in Abu Dhabi, as he left the building after four rounds, leaving Silva's trainer Ed Soares to present the belt, because White couldn't stomach the duty.

"I'm always going to speak my mind. I'm a fight fan," he says now, the heat of the moment having long passed. "I'm a president of this company and one of the owners. You're always going to hear how I feel."

It is refreshingly unique to this game that the de facto commissioner would so readily carve up the fighter he considers his best guy. (Yes, Canada, ahead of our boy GSP.)

Can you imagine NFL commissioner Roger Goodell tweeting that Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler was a wuss? Or Gary Bettman coming out and telling Sid Crosby, "Suck it up, princess. And while you're at it, keep yer head up next time."

"(Engagement) is something that I expect. When you're a fighter at this level … I shouldn't have to say anything to you. We should never even have a conversation," White said. "I expect to talk to the guys on The Ultimate Fighter, and words like that with them. I don't expect to have conversations like that with professionals and world champions."

What will the boss have to say about Silva on Saturday night?

Hey, unlike most, this is one sport where you never know for sure.