After finally getting a rise out of Anderson Silva during Monday's conference call to promote next weekend's UFC 148 Fight Card, No. 1 middleweight contender Chael Sonnen found a new rival during a radio interview on Thursday.

Sonnen was a guest of John Canzano on AM 750 "The Game" in Portland, Oregon, just 15 miles from his home in West Linn. In the course of the interview, Canzano asked about the events since Sonnen's last interview on the program, two years ago, and included a reference to "the guilty plea in the mortgage fraud thing."

It's certainly not the first time this week that someone has mentioned Sonnen's history with the law; on Monday's conference call, Silva said, "Chael is a criminal. He's been convicted of crimes. He doesn't deserve to be inside of the Octagon."

Of course, where the UFC middleweight champion was suitably vague - and the sudden change in his demeanor would have covered up any mistakes anyway - Canzano implied that Sonnen had pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud when, in fact, he pleaded guilty to money laundering in connection with mortgage fraud, a plea that resulted in a $10,000 fine and the loss of his realtor's license.

The distinction was enough for Sonnen to channel David Stern and his infamous interview with Jim Rome.

"I've never been in any sort of mortgage fraud," Sonnen said. "I'm not sure where you guys get that term up. But every time I come on your show you make new things up...so. I guess it's good. I hope you're not still beating your wife, John."

Sonnen went on to include variations on "I hope you're not still beating your wife" in three of his next five responses to Canzano, referring to Stern's question to Rome - "Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" - during an interview earlier this month. He then hung up on Canzano, bringing an abrupt end to the interview.

It's hardly surprising that Sonnen would refer to an incident from Rome's show - Sonnen won the host's famed "Smackoff" last month - but in reality, Canzano's statement that Sonnen pled guilty "in the mortgage fraud thing" was not false. Given that the money laundering was in connection with mortgage fraud, Sonnen's guilty plea was certainly connected to "the mortgage fraud thing."

For Sonnren, though, that's not what's important. The "Gangster From America" has built his persona in the UFC on a certain character, not unlike a pro wrestling villain, and a "unique" relationship with the truth is central to that persona. Before his first fight with Silva, he used his Twitter account to make a racist threat to Silva's manager, Ed Soares, then denied having a Twitter account when asked about it (Sonnen's Twitter handle, @sonnench, is verified). He accused Lance Armstrong of giving himself cancer through steroid use in one interview, and then later denied even giving the interview. He proclaims himself the winner of his fight with Silva at UFC 117 and has claimed to be "defending" his "title" at UFC 148. In Sonnen's world - or at least the world he creates when he speaks to the mixed martial arts world - the truth is what he says it is.

John Canzano found that out the hard way.