Scott Coker explains why still-angry Wanderlei Silva won’t be penalized for Bellator press conference push

Wanderlei Silva is still mad at Chael Sonnen for those television hijinks back in Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), which came at under bright lights of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) combat sports reality show in Brazil.

Relive the madness here.

That explains why “The Axe Murderer” got physical with “The American Gangster” at the conclusion of the Bellator MMA press conference on Thursday (watch it), which took place in New York City.

But that’s okay with promotion president Scott Coker (via MMA Junkie):

“One shove, that’s okay. But if it got any worse, I don’t want the fight to happen here at the press conference when they could get hurt. Then what? The fight’s off? I always tell the guys, I whisper in their ear, ‘Hey guys, no one gets paid tonight. Everyone gets paid on Saturday night. So keep that in mind when you’re doing your thing.' I know Wanderlei is still emotional and upset. He wants to kick Chael’s ass. I just feel the anger in Wanderlei. But he fights like that all the time. At the end of the day, I think we are going to have a great fight on Saturday.”

Press conference dust-ups are all the rage these days.

Silva and Sonnen will headline the upcoming Bellator NYC pay-per-view (PPV) extravaganza on Saturday night in “The Empire State,” on a card that also features Fedor Emelianenko vs. Matt Mitrione.

Watch them all weigh in for tomorrow night’s big shebang right here.