The subject of teammates not fighting each other has been a long standing source of debate among the MMA community. It also is a major annoyance to UFC president Dana White. White would like to not be hamstrung in making potentially huge fights just because guys train together, but many fighters honor that agreement to the end.

The subject came up with middleweight champion Anderson Silva and he had this to say to SporTV (translation via Orcus):

(Dana saying that teammates should fight each other), It's funny to say that, right? If that was the case, I would like to ask him if he'd like to split the UFC with Lorenzo, each would have their own show fighting for audience and sponsorship and everything else that involves their business. They're friends, partners... What I think is that friends shouldn't fight. Dana doesn't fight. He sells well the fight, he's a good promoter, but he isn't a fighter. I have nothing against Dana, I admire him, but he doesn't know what this is, and he can't say that two friends should fight. We spend more time together than with our own families. We share the pains, the frustrations, and just because he wants to sell a fight that he thinks it would be cool and that the public would like to see two companions fighting. He wants to match a fight with two friends? That's impossible, it only happens with people who aren't real friends. We have a philosophy in our team that, regardless of two being from the same weight class and the same objective of being UFC Champions, we know that this won't happen. MMA is not a collective sport. It's not normal for me to fight a guy that I live with everyday. It's natural to him, because he doesn't fight and hasn't even got pinched once.

Follow after the jump for Dana's response...

Dana did respond to Silva's statement, including the idea that he and Lorenzo wouldn't fight: