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Chael Sonnen suggests three potential opponents for Anderson Silva.
UFC president Dana White might not be sure what to do with Anderson Silva, but Chael Sonnen has some ideas.
Speaking on a recent episode of You’re Welcome, YouTube podcast host Sonnen suggested three possible opponents for Silva as the UFC legend nears retirement and completes the remaining two fights on his UFC contract.
Sonnen would like to see his ex-UFC rival face either Nick Diaz or Nate Diaz (it doesn’t matter which Diaz brother), and then Robbie Lawler.
“I’m starting with Diaz,” Sonnen said said (h/t BJPenn.com). “I’m not narrowing that down to Nick or Nate. Nick Diaz vs. Anderson works. We know it works because we’ve seen it once. It was a very fun fight. It was a fight I’m not sure that Nick won a round—a judge may have given him a round. He declared he won all five. It was great.
“You’re not talking about a contender match, you’re talking about having fun. What the hell’s wrong with that?”
“What have we also seen about the Diaz’s? It doesn’t really matter which one it is,” he added. “I mean, right? It doesn’t really matter which one it is.”
“I’m here to let you know Nate will bump up to 185 [pounds].”
“Here’s one that might surprise you: Robbie Lawler,” he said. “Lawler might surprise you because he’s at 170 pounds. Go back and look at his career, he’s done plenty of work at 185.
“Not to mention, these guys are from the same era,” Sonnen added. “So many people don’t know that because Robbie’s such a young guy. Robbie started at 19! He started at an oddly young age. Anderson started at a normal age. But they both date themselves back to the same year. The fact that these guys have never crossed is actually a bit surprising.”
“This is something unique, this is something different, this something special, in all fairness.”
Silva fought Nick Diaz to a unanimous decision in 2016 but the bout was overturned to a No Contest after ‘The Spider’ tested positive for steroids. Diaz, 36, tested positive for marijuana metabolites.
Silva, 45, recently called for a catchweight bout with Conor McGregor but White isn’t interested in the matchup. White also shot down the possibility of Silva vs. Pettis but, after watching Sonnen’s latest video, perhaps the UFC president will be more open to the idea of Silva vs. Diaz II or Silva vs. Lawler.
Silva, the former UFC middleweight champion, is just 1-6 (1 NC) in his last eight fights but is widely considered one of the greatest fighters of all time.