In case you hadn't heard, Wanderlei Silva isn't impressed by Chael Sonnen.
"The Axe Murderer" - who will headline next weekend's UFC 147 fight card against former UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin - took time on Wednesday to address Sonnen on "The MMA Show" with Mauro Renallo.
"He fights with his mouth," Silva said. "He's not a top guy. He creates that style and looks for guys to give attention to him. But face to face, he's like a kid. He'll cry like a baby, man. I don't know what kind of man can say something bad about you then say, 'Hey Wanderlei, let's shake hands.' F** you man. You talked some bad things. I'm old school. You're talking some bulls*** about me, don't shake my hand."
Sonnen, of course, has a different Silva on his mind: Anderson Silva, whom he'll challenge for the UFC Middleweight Championship on July 7 in the main event of the UFC 148 fight card in Las Vegas, and in an interview to promote that fight, he had his own incendiary comments of exactly the variety that got Wanderlei so mad in the first place.
"Make it a boxing match," Sonnen said. "I'll find a way to win. Make it a kickboxing march. I'll find a way to win....Make it a jiu-jitsu match, make it a wrestling match, make it an MMA fight. It doesn't matter. He doesn't have anything that I, as an athlete, won't conquer. I'm a competitor. I will find a way to win, like I always do."
Of course, there are a few inaccuracies in Sonnen's statement: Sonnen doesn't "always" find a way to win with his 27-11-1 career record, particularly when submissions are involved (eight of his losses are by submission, including all five of his losses since 2004). Still, Sonnen's comments are sure to build anticipation for his rematch with Silva - already one of the most eagerly awaited fights of the summer - and if they happen to annoy some people, well, Sonnen's happy to do that, too.
In his UFC 136 fight against Brian Stann last October (see video), Sonnen was introduced as a "vale tudo fighter," using the Portuguese term for "anything goes" that refers to the Brazilian fighting style at the roots of modern MMA. Given Sonnen's perennial disrespect for any and all things Brazilian, his choice of the introduction had to be another subtle tweak at the champion, "the Axe Murderer" and their home country.
And here's the thing: as much as most of Sonnen's talk seems like so much hot air, there are those moments when he knows exactly what he's talking about. Before UFC 117, the only one who believed that Sonnen could do what he wound up doing to Silva was probably Sonnen himself.
Could Sonnen beat Silva in a boxing match? A kickboxing match? A jiu-jitsu match? Probably not. What we do know, however, is that is capable of beating Silva in an MMA fight, and come July 7, there will be plenty of people eager to see him try.
