Unless you have been living under a rock since February 6, 2010 then you have probably heard Chael Sonnen run his mouth about Anderson Silva. He has said everything he could in the lead up to this fight, such as he “will retire Silva” or that his black belt from the Nogueira brothers is “not real”. His words have angered many fans of Silva hoping and praying that Anderson makes him eat his words. But, on the other hand Silva has brought this on himself.
It all started with his bout against Patrick Cote, Silva looked to be toying around with him. Cote was not backing down though he was bringing the fight to Silva and was the first fighter to take Silva into the third round in the UFC. Though, try as he might, Cote suffered a blown right knee which lead to the fight being stopped.
After that fight many wrote it off as a bad night for Silva, his next fight offered more questions than answers. At UFC 97 Silva faced Thales Leites. Silva looked to want to stay in a stand up fight while Leites looked to want to take it to the ground. In what can be described as a boring fight, some critics including Chuck Liddell, claimed that this is what happens when you have two different styles face each other. But, many saw this as a sign of Silva being bored in his weight class.
Making sure that Silva got the best fights, UFC matched him with former light heavyweight champion Forrest Griffin. Forrest was the aggressor in the fight coming after and throwing whatever he had at Silva, who just moved and ducked, knocked Forrest down twice. When Forest moved in to try and knock Silva out, Silva just moved back kept his arms down and landed a right knocking Forrest out and ending the match. In knocking out Forrest Griffin, Silva showed how great he could be in a higher weight class, but if you watch the fight Silva could be seen taunting Forrest making him engage.
Silva’s last fight at UFC 112 started promising, but towards the end of the 2nd round became more of a circus than anything. Winning the fight handedly Silva started showboating and dancing drawing criticisms from fans, media, fighters and worse off from his boss. During the bout Dana White walked out of the event giving Silva’s manager Ed Soares the Middleweight title and telling him “you put it on him.”
Dana White came close to firing his champion but instead gave him an ultimatum, if he acts like that again he will be let go. Chael Sonnen faced Nate Marquardt to be the number one contender for the middleweight title. The odds were in Marquardt favor and no one expected Chael to pull it off, but he did, outwrestling Marquardt to a unanimous decision.
Right away Chael came out swinging at Silva; Chael came out saying that Silva spoke English and was just playing to the fans and media. Not too bad, but then he went below the belt when he said that he had a fake black belt from the Nogueira brothers. Now he started getting everyone’s attention. Anderson is not the only target of Sonnen’s words according to some news reports when discussing Lance Armstrong “He cheated, he did drugs, he got himself cancer.” On the national syndicated Jim Rome show Sonnen later came out the he did not say that, but after hearing some of the things he has said it’s hard not to believe.
That fight will determine the real winner. Anyone can talk, but they have to back it up. But, the sights are set on Anderson will he prove Chael right or will he step up and show everybody who he is.
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
