Silva: “Sonnen Doesn’t Deserve Rematch”

In a recent interview with the Sherdog Radio Network, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, revealed that his client feels that Chael Sonnen doesn’t deserve a rematch.  Sonnen, famously, beat Silva to an inch of his life (and to an inch of losing his title) at UFC 117 before succumbing to a Silva triangle in the final round.  Sonnen also famously called out The Spider after his most recent victory at UFC 136, challenging him to a rematch.  And while Soares didn’t go as far as saying that Silva would refuse to fight Sonnen if the UFC asked, they do feel that there are more worthy candidates to fight Silva for the belt next.

Is Anderson Silva correct in his assessment of Sonnen and the rest of the UFC middleweight ranks?  Or is he trying to piss off Sonnen, who he doesn’t hide his detest for?  Or does Anderson feel lucky to escape his last encounter with Sonnen with a win and doesn’t want to press his luck?  Let’s take a look at other top 185-pound contenders and see if any of them stack up to Sonnen.

Yushin Okami: Silva just crushed him at UFC: Rio, so it will be a long time before Thunder is given another title shot (not to mention Sonnen beat him already at UFC 104).

Mark Munoz: A very good candidate, as the Filipino Wrecking Machine is on a three-fight win streak, including a victory over the well-respected Demian Maia at UFC 131.  But Munoz first has to get through the always-dangerous Chris Leben next month.  If he comes out of that tilt victorious, you could make a case for Munoz.
 
Dan Henderson: Another good candidate, but he comes with a couple of big IFs.  That is, IF he beats Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 139 and IF he decides to drop down in weight to challenge Silva instead of going after Jon Jones and the light heavyweight gold.  But a Henderson-Silva rematch, four years in the making, would be intriguing. 

Michael Bisping: NO.  I can not state that more emphatically.  NO.  Despite whatever the UFC or other media outlets try to feed you, do not believe the hype – Michael Bisping is not a worthy challenger to the throne.  Bisping has never been more than a middle-tier fighter and all he has ever beaten are middle-tier fighters – whenever he has been given the opportunity to rise to the upper-level of his weight class, he has shown his true colours and lost (Rashad Evans, Dan Henderson, Wanderlei Silva).  And beating another mid-level guy like Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller isn’t going to do anything to boost his rankings.  Championship-level mouth, yes.  Championship-level skills, no.

Vitor Belfort: Belfort didn’t deserve his first title shot versus Silva and then went out and proved that by getting stomped.  Maybe if he, you know, actually beats at top-level UFC middleweight, then we could give him consideration once again.

So do any of these guys have a more legitimate claim to ‘#1 contender’ than Chael Sonnen?  Absolutely not, not after what he did to Silva in their first fight and not after the way he ran over Brian Stann in his last match.  Love him or hate him (probably the latter), Chael Sonnen is justified in calling out ‘NEXT’.