UFC 116 is gone and done, and it’s time to look ahead to UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen which will feature current middleweight champion Anderson Silva defending his title against Chael Sonnen. Sonnen has been hyping the fight by criticizing almost every aspect of Silva’s character, fighting ability and in ring antics, and many are expecting the champion to answer back in the ring. While Silva is not one to trash talk much, he did address Sonnen’s words during a recent interview with Tatame. The champ seems quite cool about the whole situation, though he did send out a less than subtle reminder to Sonnen and fans:
I’m cool… I’m not anxious about his statements, I don’t worry about those things. He is promoting this fight the way he cans. He’s a great athlete, he’s having a chance to fight for the belt, so let’s go. When you get there, everything changes. Inside that cage the speech changes, everything change. The last one who spoke too much didn’t like the outcome, but it’s normal. People have their mouth and their right to say whatever they feel like.
It’ll be interesting to see if Silva pushes the pace after all the negative words he received from media, fans, and even UFC president Dan White concerning the antics he displayed when fighting Demian Maia at UFC 112. UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen takes place on August 7, 2010 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Here’s the card as it stands:
Middleweight Championship bout: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen
Welterweight bout: Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves
Lightweight bout: Clay Guida vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
Welterweight bout: Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida
Heavyweight bout: Roy Nelson vs. Junior Dos Santos
Preliminary Card
Light Heavyweight bout: Thiago Silva vs. Tim Boetsch
Welterweight bout: Dustin Hazelett vs. Rick Story
Heavyweight bout: Stefan Struve vs. Christian Morecraft
Welterweight bout: Johny Hendricks vs. Charlie Brenneman
Welterweight bout: Ben Saunders vs. Dennis Hallman
Light Heavyweight bout: Rodney Wallace vs. Stanislav Nedkov