Chael Sonnen: ‘Anderson Silva, you absolutely s—‘

Immediately post victory most fighters are overwhelmed with joy, adrenaline, and exhaustion. A corner helps them at least part way into a sponsor shirt, and they pant through some obligatory remarks – “How do you feel about this fight? … Oh, umm, GREAT!”

Immediately after his surgical dismantling of Brain Stann, Chael Sonnen had an odd, serious scowl on his face. The greatest trash talker in fighting since Muhammad Ali was still working.

As Joe Rogan came into the Octagon to interview the victor, Sonnen ignored the win, and turned to Anderson Silva who as sitting cageside. With a scowl he pointed and said “Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck!”

Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the business. I’m calling you out, but we’re upping the stakes. If I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I will leave the UFC forever.

The remarks had the feel of a gimmick penned by one of Vince McMahon’s lesser script writers. Fans rolled their eyes waiting for Chael to continue with a call for a Falls Count Anywhere Barbed Wire Strapped Ladder match in the parking lot, with the recently released from lock up “Just Bleed” guy as special referee.

That said, of all the men to challenge “The Spider” for his 185-pound title, only Sonnen has come close, losing by late submission back in Aug. 2010. And with his relentless jibes directed at Brazilian fighters generally, and Anderson Silva (and his wife) specifically, there is every likelihood that Sonnen will indeed face Silva in a rematch on Super Bowl weekend, and that it will indeed be the biggest rematch in the sport’s history.

As UFC president Dana White put it in the video at bottom, “It’d be pretty f—— stupid not to make that fight.”

No matter how off putting fans may find the WWEish banter, it only fuels the desire to see Sonnen beat down and shut up in the cage, and there in lies Sonnen’s genius.