Despite Chael Sonnen’s best efforts in luring Anderson Silva for a rematch, “The Spider” is not interested.
While the UFC middleweight champion is expected to return next year, he doesn’t intend on standing across the Octagon from Sonnen once again. They fought previously at UFC 117 that saw Silva out-wrestled and dominated for a majority of the bout before securing a submission just moments before the closing bell; it is considered one of the greatest comebacks in UFC history.
However, Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, believes it’s time to seek bigger and better opportunities for the champion.
“Anderson just feels that he doesn’t deserve it yet,” Soares told Sherdog.com, when asked whether Sonnen should get a rematch. “He’s fought him once. He had his opportunity, but hey, if Dana wants to put the fight on again, we’ll cross that bridge when it comes.”
Since his loss to the Brazilian, Sonnen has continued to provoke him and request a rematch, even going as far as calling Silva out following his win over Brian Stann at UFC 136. In the post-fight interview, Sonnen had demanded Silva give him a rematch on Super Bowl weekend in February. He even put his own career on the line, should he lose to the champion once again.
Soares explained that while the rematch might generate a lot of interest from fans, it isn’t necessarily Silva’s main priority.
“Let someone try that hasn’t fought for the belt yet,” he said. “We fought Rich Franklin twice. We’ll probably end up having to fight Chael twice. We’re going to end up fighting probably Dan Henderson twice. It’s just like, it would be nice to see some new faces in there getting a crack at it.”
Whether he likes it or not, there isn’t much competition other than Sonnen right now. Silva isn’t committed to move up to 205 pounds, and shows no intention of facing Georges St-Pierre. Sonnen will remain in the title picture until Silva reluctantly agrees to face him.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com