Sonnen: I won’t touch gloves, here to fight
“No – no touching of the gloves,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) after doing his media obligations at the XS Nightclub…
“No – no touching of the gloves,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) after doing his media obligations at the XS Nightclub at Encore in Las Vegas. “I’m here to fight.”
Sonnen (27-11-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) challenges Silva (31-4 MMA, 15-0 UFC) for the middleweight title in the main event of UFC 148 on Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in one of the most highly anticipated fights in UFC history.
Yet despite everything Sonnen has said about Silva over the nearly two years since they first fought, building one of the biggest rivalries the MMA world has seen, Sonnen said he doesn’t wish the Brazilian champion, arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history, any ill will.
“Hate’s too strong of a word,” Sonnen said. “I want to beat Anderson up. I’m going to beat Anderson up. He’s a phony, he’s a fraud and he’s got what I want. But I don’t wish him a bad life. We’ll take care of business in the octagon, we’ll shake hands either way, we’ll walk out and that will be the end of it.”
So Sonnen is willing to shake hands with Silva after the fight – but not before. Most definitely not before.
“I will always shake hands, win or lose, after a competition,” Sonnen said. “Since I was 9 years old, that’s always been the rule. A lot of guys’ fathers told them, ‘You wait till he throws the first punch.’ What my dad taught me was as soon as he squares up, it’s starting. This guy has squared up.”