Mixed martial arts (MMA) fans with a Fight Pass subscription have been enjoying the third season The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) "Brazil." Those chiselers too cheap to cough up a Hamilton every 30 days are likely following along in our weekly live discussion thread.

But UFC was one apology away from having the entire thing implode on day one.

That's because coach Wanderlei Silva demanded a retraction from bitter rival Chael Sonnen, after "The American Gangster" spent the better part of his middleweight title run (on both occasions) disparaging the good name of Brazil, a place that still has Indians and alligators running through its streets.

But there is no way Sonnen was going to apologize.

In addition, the FOX Sports 1 analyst explained to Combate (via Bloody Elbow) how Silva's decision to stand on ceremony nearly forced the cancellation of the combat sports reality show, as "The Axe Murderer" huffed and puffed ... then hailed a cab.

"He is so stupid, I'm ashamed of him. He is a checkers player. In checkers you play one move at a time. If you are a chess player, you have to guess what I'm going to do and plan your next move, you have to be three or four moves ahead. He is so stupid, and I'm not trying to offend him, stupid is a word for a real thing. He comes and say: 'the show stops if you don't apologize for what you said about Brazil'. He did what a real checkers player would do. He would never imagine that I would refuse to apologize. When I refused, all what he could do was give up. He put himself in check, I didn't do that. The show stopped and was almost over. They had to call Dana White and the producers. I begged him to come back and he didn't. So he called for a cab and the cab came. One producer had to stop him in the cab and make him come back."

Wandy explains why he demanded an apology in this video post.

Now that filming has wrapped, Silva will settle his score in their light heavyweight showdown in the main event of the UFC "Fight Night" event scheduled for May 31, 2014, inside he Ibirapuera Arena in Sao Paulo, Brazil. But like day one of TUF filming, it was in danger of being called off.

"The Axe Murderer" initially refused to sign his contract.

It probably took some coaxing from the big bosses, but the Brazilian eventually put pen to paper and the fight will go on as scheduled. And considering we're less than two months away from their epic grudge match, you can expect the pre-fight rhetoric to start heating up sooner rather than later.

No apologies!