Chael Sonnen up next for Anderson Silva
UFC President Dana White confirmed that Chael Sonnen will be the next fighter to challenge for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s…
UFC President Dana White confirmed that Chael Sonnen will be the next fighter to challenge for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s title.
“It’s the fight everyone wants to see,” White said on Wednesday’s edition of “The Jim Rome Show.” “People want to see Chael vs. Anderson. Anderson is in this position where he feels this guy is so disrespectful he doesn’t want to give him a shot and everything else, but Anderson will end up fighting Chael Sonnen.”
However, no date has been selected for the long-awaited rematch because Silva currently is recovering from a shoulder injury.
Silva and Sonnen fought over a year ago in match that Sonnen dominated for every moment of every round, until he tapped to a triangle late in the fifth and final round. A immediate rematch was warranted, but post fight the California State Athletic Commission detected elevated levels of testosterone in Sonnen, and suspended him.
Sonnen has since been relentless in his quest for a rematch, goading Anderson Silva to a degree not seen since Muhammad Ali called Joe Frazier an ugly, gorilla, Uncle Tom, white man’s champion.
Sonnen told Mauro Ranallo to “tell Anderson Silva I’m coming over and I’m kicking down his backdoor and patting his little lady on the ass and I’m telling her to make me a steak, medium-rare just how I like it.” From inside the cage immediately after handily defeating Brian Stann, Sonnen turned to Silva seated ringside and said bluntly “Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck!” The he borrowed a play from the WWE and proposed a Loser Leaves Town match, 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.
Like all Loser Leaves Town matches, the idea faded, but in the end, Sonnen secured what he wanted, over the objections on champion Anderson Silva.
Silva’s manager Ed Soares related Silva’s feelings on the fight. Anderson just feels that he doesn’t deserve it yet. He doesn’t deserve it yet.” Soares later went on to say that Sonnen should be in jail, not fighting for the title. “First the guy gets in trouble for fraud, then he tests positive for steroids, and now he wants to kick in someone’s door and slap their wife in the ass? This guy should be in jail; he shouldn’t be fighting.”
In the end, Chael Sonnen got what he wanted. The fans did too.