Tonight is arguably one of the most anticipated fights in UFC History. It has been two years since Chael Sonnen took Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva to the limit of a 5th round only to see a fight he was winning snatched away when Silva made him tap. It has also been two years of Sonnen talking a lot of smack and Silva eventually responding. The personal attacks finally prompted Silva, to explode
“First of all, Chael is a criminal,” he began. “He’s been convicted of crimes. He doesn’t deserve to be inside of the octagon. When the time comes and the time is right, I’m going to break his face and break every one of the teeth in his mouth.”
“What I’m going to do inside the octagon is something that’s going to change the image of the sport,” he said. “I’m going to beat his ass like he’s never been beaten before. I’m going to make sure that every one of his teeth are broken, his arms are broken, his legs are broken. He’s not going to be able to walk out of the octagon by himself. I can guarantee that.”
“There’s going to be no difference in the end,” Silva said. “The first time we fought he stepped out the loser. And he’s going to step out losing again this time. The only difference is this time, he’s going to have to go see a plastic surgeon after the fight.”
Even in grudge matches in the UFC, there is a healthy amount of respect for each other. It is pretty evident Silva would be OK with ending Sonnen’s career.
If you don’t follow UFC, there is something you need to understand about Sonnen. As much of a badass as he is in the octagon, he is as much of a performer outside of it. If he decided to retire from the UFC after tonight’s fight, he could easily step into Vince McMahon’s World. If you were to compare him to a WWE superstar, he has a lot of elements of Chris Jericho. Not the biggest, not the baddest but damnit if he wont tell you he is the biggest and the baddest and get under your skin doing it.
He also is very intelligent and is able to manipulate a conversation. You know that person who argues with you that the sky is green, and even though everybody knows they are wrong, their argument is so persuasive and pokes holes in your logical argument that you end up questioning whether you are right.
That is Chael Sonnen, and that is what Dan LeBatard found out when he had him on his show Dan LeBatard is Highly Questionable (@DLHQ)
In the clip, courtesy of BobsBlitz.com LeBatard, who also has that same ability to turn an argument on semantics, asks Sonnen about some comments he saw the previous night that he made about Anderson Silva’s wife.
Despite the fact that it plays out like a promo between the Million Dollar Man and Mean Gene Okerlund, the results are uncomfortably awesome.
http://youtu.be/pUYFM3p3VG8
Of course, LeBatard couldn’t immediately produce the clip. But here it is.
Sonnen didn’t technically say it the way LeBatard quoted him, so technically his argument wasn’t wrong.
Semantics.
If the fight is as good as the build up, tonight should be epic.