Soares Getting Lost in Translation

In Ed Soares’ world, Anderson Silva speaking is not the same as Silva communicating. The manager of several UFC notables -- including Silva, the Nogueiras, and Lyoto Machida -- told MMAScraps Radio over the weekend that he sometimes manipulates the translated words of his fighter in order to put a better spin on them.

“Yes and no…I can say that sometimes I don’t translate exactly what he [Anderson] says, but it’s not something I do on purpose or to cover anything up,” Soares said. “Things don’t translate word for word. I’m trying to get the message across. If I were to use the same words, it wouldn’t translate to the same meaning…as far as fixing something, as his manager, I’m always going to try to make him look better, but it’s nothing like lying or anything like that.”

This is slightly offensive to those of us who value literal meaning, but it’s nothing unusual. Soares is essentially the press liaison for his fighters, and that means auditing quotes or behavior he feels may paint his commodity in a bad light. Japanese MMA organizations were fairly notorious for strong-arming journalists there to eliminate flammable comments -- the writer can either comply or risk getting his attendance privileges revoked.

This isn’t quite as dramatic, but it does make a hard task -- understanding Silva -- even harder.