BEHIND THE SCENES MMA ARTICLES & INTERVIEWS
07/03/2012
Silva vs. Sonnen II – A Rematch of Hate
By Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester
In what is building up to be the most anticipated fight of the year, middleweight champion Anderson Silva and polarizing middleweight contender Chael Sonnen will soon set off to fight each other on July 7th in what could be the most exciting rematch in UFC history. After being removed from last weekend’s UFC 147, the fight was effectively placed on July 7th at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. With this much history and bad blood, Silva-Sonnen II should be a spectacle to watch!
It is known by now that Sonnen and Silva don’t have much respect for each other. It all started back after Sonnen defeated Nate Marquadt at UFC 109. Sonnen began calling out Anderson Silva, who is still considered one of the more feared fighters in mixed martial arts’ history. Despite getting his title shot against the middleweight champion Silva and losing to a triangle choke, Chael Sonnen still bashed Silva to the press and the media. Here is the reason why: he had given Anderson Silva the worst beating he had taken in years and was just minutes away from stopping Silva who has been undefeated in his UFC career.
With a year-off due to a suspension from the California State Athletic Commission, Chael Sonnen still found every opportunity to talk trash about Silva. It was a fight that almost everyone wanted to see again, and with consecutive victories over Brian Stann and Michael Bisping, Sonnen got his rematch which has become one of the UFC’s most anticipated rematches ever.
Hype has come easy for the main event of UFC 148 as Sonnen did most of the trash talking early. Doing everything in the book in order to get this match made, he made it quite known that he did not think Anderson Silva would fight him again. It was inevitable in any way you look at it. He was the only guy to fight Anderson Silva the way he did, and while he may be a polarizing figure, people still listen to Chael Sonnen and he makes people listen through some of the crazy off-hand remarks he has towards his opponent.
For the most part, Silva ignored his opponent’s negative comments but on a conference call Monday June the 25th, Silva had had enough. Silva’s scorn seemed limitless as he retorted, “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.”
Not only did he promise to “Beat him out of the UFC,” but he also 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.”
Whether this means that Chael Sonnen has gotten into Anderson Silva’s head, it’s unsure of right now. How this will affect him on July 7th? Who knows, but it could mean two things: It’s either very bad for Silva or it’s very bad for Sonnen. An extremely pissed off Anderson Silva doesn’t sound good for anyone, particularly someone like Chael Sonnen who has been working his trash talk for the past two years. But, this could also be the right advantage Sonnen needs to take down the mentally distracted Silva.
Only July 7th mixed martial arts fans can expect this grudge match to be a brutal and violent one. This bad blood has reached a fever pitch that could lead to some remarkable action inside the Octagon and a plus for Sonnen that the fight is not in Brazil. In all likelihood, there is a very small chance that this fight will not be one of the more memorable fights in a long time.
Follow Christopher “sLapDatSuCKa” Jester on Twitter @sLapDatSuCka
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