Sonnen’s UFC 117 call highlights

“Anderson has a lot of tools. I don’t see a glaring weakness anywhere. I might look at tape this week.”

“I’m the toughest guy in the company. There has never been a guy with earrings that can out-tough me and he’s not gonna be the first.”

“There are a lot of distractions for this fight. But if you’re in the main event that’s how it should be. You should have to answer a lot of questions about the fight and if you notice, all the questions are coming to me. I’m a partner with the UFC, he’s an employee. People want to talk to me because I give coherent answers unlike my opponent who’s on speaker phone somewhere driving in his car giving ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers.”

“I think Vitor Belfort is in line next. That’s not really who i would want to fight. I have a guy in mind and I’ll challenge him on the night of the 7th.”

“I’ve never had a problem with what he does in the cage. I don’t believe in sportsmanship and honor. It’s a fight. I just don’t like him. I don’t have to have a reason, not everybody can like everybody. I’m going to got out there and take his belt on the 7th and Dana’s gonna fire him on the 8th.”

“I don’t think Anderson has any fans. He’s the only guy in the world that has been a champion for 4 years and only has one sponsor. Nobody wants to associate themselves with him. Nobody wants to dress like him or be like him. I, on the other hand, have numerous sponsors who do very well. That should tell you all you need to know about his popularity.”

“Anderson has been picking his fights for years. He fought a Math teacher from Ohio and a one-legged Canadian. Things will be drastically different for him when he fights a world-class wrestler like myself.”

“There’s no argument that I’m the only one promoting this fight. Of course I’m promoting this fight myself. Nobody wants to hear from him. Nobody is making any money off the fight because of him. I don’t even know why he’s here. You guys [the media] are the only fans he has. I’m the one people want to see.”

“I don’t know what hype means. Hype is BS, it’s phony. I answer questions that you guys ask, that’s it. I don’t think that’s hype. That’s the fight business. We have to make people want to watch our fight. I could pull Anderson Silva out of his hotel room any night and beat the crap out of him, but i made a commitment to wait until august 7 to do that.”

“He’s a scary fighter, I know he’s gonna hurt me really bad. But I’m confident that I can deal with the pain and take the belt from him anyway.”

“Does he know anything about the business? People don’t just want to watch people fight, they want to know why they are fighting. He thinks he’s taking the high road. He is so clueless it’s not even funny. The guy is a dummy. I can’t wait to kick his ass.””

“I don’t think he’s gonna be that easy to take down. I don’t think anybody has ever outgrappled him. But I’ve fought 41 men and I’ve never been outstruck. I doubt we’re gonna be the first to do either to each other. It’s gonna be a real fight, something that he’s not used to.”