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UFC: Is Anderson Silva really interested in fighting Chael Sonnen?
By Zach Arnold | May 4, 2010
Another grab-a-cup-of-coffee article.
Do you remember what Dana White said after the debacle in Abu Dhabi featuring Anderson Silva clowning around against Demian Maia? Remember the part where he said this was the lowest point ever in his history as a promoter?
“No doubt about it, absolutely 100%. You know, this was a big event for us tonight, this was a really big moment. I was really excited, I’ve been here, I’ve been fired up, I’ve been on the road a lot and this whole last you know three weeks of my life was leading to this night here. The people in this country, including the media, have really got behind this thing with support like I’ve never, ever seen anywhere. You know, I’m really embarrassed.”
After promising that he would re-pay the fans back for that awful showing, White announced on Jim Rome is Burning on ESPN that he was booking Chael Sonnen against Anderson Silva for early August.
“Oh, I mean there’s, there’s nothing that I can really do to [Anderson] financially. You know this thing, you know, he’s contracted to get paid and he gets paid, it’s just one of those unfortunate things that happens and you know, uh, I had the talk with him. I think personally I really believe that he was embarrassed by what happened that night. Maybe he did have a mental breakdown, I don’t know what happened in the ring, but .. uh… all I can say is, I know his next opponent isn’t going to be a guy whose going to lay back and let him do stuff like that to him. Chael Sonnen’s going to take to him and hopefully we never see that again.”
Will the general public feel confident that Chael Sonnen is the guy who can deliver the punishment against Anderson Silva? Will there be strong fan demand to see that fight?
Is White really that confident that Sonnen will be able to make an exciting fight against Anderson? Remember, Sonnen fought Paulo Filho in WEC when Filho was having his problems and it was a brutal fight to watch.
“I’ve fought one of Ed Soares’ guy, his name was Paulo Filho,” stated Sonnen during a media session before his recent UFC fight with Nathan Marquardt. “[Filho] was undefeated prior and undefeated after and he was ranked #1 in the world and I stopped him twice. I went into that fight with a broken arm, I didn’t come out, I went into that fight with a broken arm, x-rays in hand. He can hype his guy all he wants. The opinion of Soares does not matter. The opinion of Anderson Silva does not matter. My opinion doesn’t matter. I can’t believe Ed Soares’ name came up in an interview, frankly. I like the guy, I’m not turning on him, but that’s ridiculous, we don’t talk about managers for God’s sakes.”
Silva has long been a target of Sonnen, who Ed Soares essentially called a no-namer during an interview with Danny Acosta of Fight! Magazine. Soares was asked to respond to comments Sonnen made to the press corps about Anderson Silva kayfabing the media on the fact that he really knows English.
“It doesn’t offend me, it just obviously shows [Sonnen] doesn’t know what the hell he’s talking about. You know, Chael Sonnen has always been really nice towards me, he’s always been really cool. I heard those things he said about me saying that I’m a rocket scientist, all these things, I mean he can say what he wants man, you know, at the end day man I mean he knows, he knows what’s up, man, he’s no dummy. At the end of the day, behind the scenes, that’s not him, but he’s trying to hype up a fight and unfortunately for him, when he talks about things nobody pays attentions, man, the only time people pay attention is when he’s talking about Anderson Silva. So, I mean, he’s found a little niche that gets some attention for him and good man, good for him, you know try to build up some fights, try to build up something up because unfortunately nobody really cares about him. So whatever he’s got to do to potentially build this fight up in the future, keep on doing it.”
If you don’t remember what Sonnen said about Silva and his English speaking capabilities to the press, here you go.
“You know I’m not a fan of his, no, I mean, a guy with earrings, crooked hats, and pink shirts wouldn’t make it 10 minutes in my neighborhood and I live in a nice neighborhood and we’d still run him out of him town. You know, I’m not against him either, I acknowledge that he’s got a good skill set. That’s about all I want to say. He will get a verbal beating and he’ll deserve every bit of it.”
Steve Cofield of Yahoo Sports asked Sonnen if he was “dialing up the rhetoric” on Anderson to get that fight booked.
“I didn’t out anybody. But I discussed him, it’s called the truth and it’s very new in MMA, I don’t think guys are used to it. You know, it’s similar to guys that train six hours a day, seven days a week, that doesn’t happen. You know, some of the guys who go to camp, they’re not at camp. They’re off somewhere playing Nintendo all day, pretending to contribute to society. It’s called the truth and I let a few people in on some true facts and none of it was rhetoric, none of it would I apologize for and none of it was to hype a fight, it was just the truth. I keep hearing that ‘Hey Chael, you’re really upping the talk,’ I haven’t talked! Look, I said one thing, Anderson Silva speaks English, he doesn’t want to speak to any of you. You guys go out and massage his ego in the press on a daily basis. The irony there is he has such disdain for you he pretends he can’t understand you. So, I find that interesting. You guys apparently didn’t. You thought that was trash talk. That’s again called the truth. I can’t change the fact that he doesn’t want to talk to you guys. So there you go, thus making Ed Soares more relevant so maybe that’s part of the master plan. I don’t know, I’m just telling you, he speaks English. I spoke to him.”
A media writer quipped that “we’re probably just used to people not wanting to talk to us.”
“Well it’s a brilliant plan,” Sonnen countered. “I mean I can tell you, it’s worked for him. He can avoid talking to you guys, he can avoid these things, and he can get pushed to the top. I’ve never seen it. Good for him, good for him for doing it. But everyone hears him back stage, this isn’t… this isn’t Chael Sonnen talking, everybody in the UFC knows he speaks English. We all speak to him, you know, backstage he talks, you guys pop in with a camera and all of a sudden it’s Se Habla Español, you know, it’s a big joke.”
No comprende, Chael. The language Anderson speaks is Portuguese. Oops. Nevertheless, Sonnen did an interview last week with Bruce Buffer on Sherdog radio in which he dropped this news item.
“I’m absolutely focusing on Anderson but you know I signed my contract and sent it in 6 minutes after it hit my FAX machine, he’s been hanging onto it for 10 days and hasn’t signed it yet, so you know I’ll be fighting August 7th against somebody, I’m presuming it’s him but again he’s had it for 10 days, I don’t know if FAX machines aren’t working in Brazil or what the hold-up is, it only took us 6 minutes here in Portland.”
Which leads to a bigger question at hand in regards to whether or not this fight will happen. If you’re in Anderson Silva’s camp, it’s the kind of fight that you likely aren’t afraid of taking in terms of a win/loss scenario. At the same time, it appears that the fight will be the main event of the early August show (in Oakland) and that there won’t be a strong PPV attraction on the show. If the platform for this fight isn’t buttressed by another fight that can draw a big PPV buy rate, will Anderson’s camp take the fight? Also, you never know when he might get injured and if he has an elbow injury or some sort of injury that could prevent him from beating Sonnen in August on a PPV that doesn’t have a lot of juice, it would be a double whammy at that point.
I’m not sure that you can call booking Anderson Silva in a PPV main event on a UFC card “punishment” for what he did in Abu Dhabi. If he stinks up the joint against Sonnen in terms of a boring fight performance, then what? Is Dana White really going to cut the Middleweight champion?
“I’m telling you right now. If he ever acts like that again in the ring, I will cut him. I don’t care if he’s the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world. I don’t care if he’s the Middleweight champion.”
Is he just going to allow Anderson Silva to go to Strikeforce and Showtime? Could you imagine Anderson Silva on a Showtime telecast taking the UFC belt and throwing it in the trash pro-wrestling style?
The truth is that the UFC public wants to see a mega-fight between Anderson Silva and Georges St. Pierre. The problem is whether or not Anderson can make the cut to 170. If you have St. Pierre go up to 185, he’s going to get physically manhandled the same way BJ Penn got manhandled by St. Pierre. In a strange way, what is happening with Anderson and GSP is similar to what is going on in boxing with Mayweather & Pacquiao except there aren’t any drug testing issues involved. Silva is scheduled to face Sonnen and St. Pierre will face the winner of Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley from this weekend’s event in Montreal. If things go as planned and both champions win their upcoming fights, then the super fight is set up. However, if Anderson somehow loses to Chael Sonnen, does the prospects of that super fight go out the window?
It feels like the fight with Sonnen is a no-win situation for Silva but I would hardly call it ‘punishment’ for what he did in Abu Dhabi. And imagine, if Anderson actually believes what Chael is saying about… wouldn’t want to make him pout now, would we?
If the fight between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen does happen, Sonnen seems aware of the challenge ahead of him. The problem is, as Sonnen said in his interview with Bruce Buffer, that he isn’t sure what the actual solution is to stopping Anderson Silva’s brutally effective offensive attack.
At least he won’t be studying the UFC 112 video of the fight against Demian Maia.
“That’s one of those tapes that I probably won’t study too much because it was just so bizarre, but he’s got some pretty traditional fights where he comes out in a traditional stance and you know and frankly being a better, more dangerous fighter, so that’s the one that I’m preparing for is the one that is taking it real serious and yeah, there’s certainly a few things he does. He’s got some tells, if you want to put it in poker terms, you know he doesn’t just come out and strike, he’s got things he does before he does it. But they’re very effective, it’s not as though you know because I can identify what Anderson does doesn’t mean that I can stop it. He’s got the same problem. He can look at me and know that I’m going to change elevation and blast him into that fence. That doesn’t mean he can stop it, so, you know, I don’t have anything real specific to what he does, I’m going to work really hard like I do every day between now and fight time and you know when they call my name I’ll walk to my ring and I’ll bring my skills with me and I’ll live with the result.
“He never comes out and just strikes, he’s always got a few tells that he does before he goes. But also it helps to make him so effective, you know, the guy’s juking and jiving. It’s hard not to react, when a guy flinches at you it’s hard not to react and that reaction is what he’s looking for and it feeds into what he’s doing. So far what I’ve done is to recognize what his set-ups are, I don’t know how to stop them yet so that’s strategically that’s what I really need to focus on for the next few months amongst other things. I’m going to go get in range, at some point he’s going to try to punch me or try to kick me and the second he does I’m going to grab him and throw him on his back. That’s really it. I’m going to walk out there, get right where he wants to hit me and then I’m going to taunt him, I’m going to dare him to do something, the shoe’s on the other foot this time.”
Win or lose, Sonnen has his plate full in and out of the cage. He’s running for political office in Oregon for the state legislature (his political web site is here) and he’s also busy coaching a kid’s wrestling team.
“When I got out of college, my close teammate and I started a kid’s wrestling team. We had six kids when we started, we were given six kids. That was 8 years ago. We now have 122 young men that we mentor, six days a week. We go Monday through Friday with practice, tournaments all day Saturday, we rest on Sunday, and we do it all over again for 45 weeks out of the year. We take a seven week rest and then the new season begins, so that takes up the better part of my life. I get done you know with my own work day and my own practicing, I drive straight to the gym and coach the kids, so that’s what I do, whether I like it or not I don’t know but that’s what I do, that’s my way of giving back to the people that gave up their lives to help me.”
We’ll have three more months of trash talk from Sonnen and I’m sure Anderson Silva’s camp will respond in kind. The main question going into this fight is whether or not Anderson Silva is even interested in taking it and if he feels it’s worth it to do so and to put on a strong showing.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 18 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
So Silva drops down for one fight and potentially kills a division? No thanks!!
The UFC got out ahead of this one. They basically announced the fight before they got Silva’s approval. And you know they will bash him in the media if he doesn’t sign. Silva has lost all good will and all bargaining power with the UFC. This is exactly what I knew was going to happen. They are going to dictate the story now. Silva either does it or makes to be looked scared.
When Silva is “on” , or at least interested in fighting, I love to watch him.
But, he is a champion who has a number one contender,so does it really matter “if he is really interested in fighting Sonnen”?
Silva was one of my favorites, but with the exception of his performance fighting Forest Griffith, his last few fights have not earned him the right to even have an opinion on his opponents.
We all know Silva was rightfully the favorite in his fight w/ Damien Maia and probably would have won if he deceided to trade strikes with himand even if the locked up. I say probably because I believe Maia could have made him tape, especially if he was able to get some type of leglock on him, as Anderson seems to be a little frantic when someone gets ahold of his legs.
But the point is this: Silva was the favorite, as he should have been, and spent most of the fight waiting to counter-strike, and nothing more. The guy has a black belt in both Judo & BJJ, so he is more then capable of grappling.
I understan he is an incredibly strong & accurate striker, but if the opponent is not willing to just charge in after him, he needs to have a plan B, because even his most committed of fans want to see more out of him in his fights.
45 Huddle says:
“Silva has lost all good will and all bargaining power with the UFC…They are going to dictate the story now. Silva either does it or makes to be looked scared.”
I agree.
Silva is a phenominal athlete, but he has no one to blame but himself for being in this position.
While the UFC has not yet indicated how they intend to “pay the fans back”, there is no chance they intend to do so with a Silva fight. I don’t think White ever intended to pay back “the booking” with a better booking, the intention was always to pay back the disastrous show, perhaps with a free show. While it would be easiest to use Anderson Silva for that, Silva cannot be rewarded in any way for his performance. I was against his booking against Griffin after his performance against Leites, and look what happened in his next fight after.
While I want to see Silva/St. Pierre, I don’t want to see Silva ever dance around the ring for five rounds like an idiot ever again, and I’m willing to wait until Silva gets the message.
Yep. I have assumed it’s a free show that will be the payback.
They should let FightOpinion posters book that free show. I’d lobby for a freakshow to end all freakshows.
I do not want to see Anderson Silva in a fight below 185 lbs, plain and simple.
Mark my words Silva will have his hands full with Chael Sonnen.
One of my friends, right after the Maia fight, posited the idea that Silva knocked out Forrest by accident. I don’t know if that theory has been floating around the intraweb for a while, but I thought it was pretty funny, and sadly, may actually be true.
So what’s the word on Vitor? Is his injury healed up? Is he out of the mix at Middleweight now?
Of course he isn’t interested in fighting Chael Sonnen. The general public aren’t even sure how to pronounce his name, much less care that he’s the #1 contender by beating a guy everybody hates for sucking and a takedown clinic win over Marquardt at one of the worst UFC shows of the recent history.
The idea the internet has been fed that he’s somehow going to be now motivated to get his killer instinct back because some guy talked trash about him on a show nobody watches is laughable. You’ll see the same Anderson Silva you saw last time. And he’s not dumb enough to believe Dana would really fire him or put him in prelims if he doesn’t get a KO.
And yet Chael Sonnen is your next UFC Middleweight Champion.
The guy only loses to submission guys. Silva isn’t good enough at submissions to pull it off.
He will stop Silva before the end of the 3rd round.
I don’t think his shot is fast enough to score a takedown on Silva without Silva getting his timing down and making him eat a knee. Plus Silva is going to be on his bicycle, good luck getting close period.
But a Sonnen victory would be good. He’s marketable (when people find out who he is beyond Inside MMA watchers), unlike Silva he actually wants to fight at 185, and Silva has an excuse to leave the division if he hates it so much. I just don’t see much of a chance of it happening.
Silva submitted Lutter, an actual submission guy. I’d rate him as being appreciably better than Jeremy Horn. Ergo, easy win for Silva.
I love how people keep believing what they want to believe when it has been shown as false 9,000 times. Every single fight Anderson Silva has gets the “HE’S PRONE TO SUBMISSIONS~!” talk. The guy gets one crazy fluke flying kneebar put on him 7 years ago and he’s forever “PRONE TO SUBMISSIONS~!” even after 7 years and 15 fights of not being submitted and beating several strong submission fighters.
And I think for starters they need to play up Sonnen’s political career. Give him a new nickname “The Pulverizing Politician”, “The Raging Representative”, “The Congressional Carnivore”, “Cuts Flesh Like Taxes”. Now we’re talkin’ $$$$$$$$$.
Anderson is prone to wrestling and he admits it. The problem for Sonnen is that he’s a sucker for submissions. That’s why he ended up fighting most of the rematch with Filho standing – to prevent getting caught in a lock again. He doesn’t have that option with Anderson though unless he wants to get sparked out in short order (or he plans on running, which would be HILARIOUS).
I don’t see him winning. Maia had a better shot with Anderson.
I think the reason Anderson doesn’t want this fight is because he gets a PPV slice. If there is no other big name on the card, the PPV buy rate will be low and Andy will not take home the big bucks.
This is likely Dana’s strategy anyway. He’s pissed off at Anderson so his punishment is to put him on as a headliner. Don’t give him much support and it’ll have a low buy rate. It’ll still be 400,000 buys so it’s good money for Zuffa but not anywhere near where the the PPV slice for Anderson kicks in.
That’s why Anderson turned down a fight in the UK a year or so ago. No extra cheddar for him.
You are 100% right. The UFC is not giving him anybody else to bump up the PPV buyrates. But that isn’t going to change if he tries to duck Sonnen. It is going to probably happen until he puts on at least 2 impressive performances on in a row.
He needs a name to fight and there are none. Nobody wants a Marquardt rematch, Vitor Belfort isn’t well known to newer fans, Sonnen isn’t a star, Akiyama’s Japanese appeal won’t translate to America, Bisping won’t be taken seriously as a contender, nobody likes Cote, it would be suicide to put Okami in a main event. His only match I could see coming close to doing good business is a fight with Wanderlei, but I don’t have faith that he can go on a winning streak long enough to earn a title shot.
The best they can do for him is to give him a co-main event slot with a really big fight to keep him happy.
Lol @ “Continue reading this article here…”
😥