Chael Sonnen is tasting his own medicine in the form of a marauding Wanderlei Silva hounding him for a fight.
The latest incident involves Silva picking a fight with the American Gangster at a Mr. Olympia event—all filmed, of course, by Silva himself and uploaded to YouTube (via MMAJunkie.com).
This is clearly Silva using Sonnen’s own tactics against him to get a big fight. However, Sonnen is already set to fight Rashad Evans at UFC 167 in November, which makes the Brazilian’s antics appear “bizarre,” according to Sonnen.
Speaking to MMA Fighting, he said of the Mr. Olympia incident:
He’s a distraction, no doubt about it…It comes back to, on one hand this is pretty weird, man. On the other hand, well done. Well done. You wanted attention. It worked. You’re staying in the headlines by staying out of the Octagon. It’s very hard to stay in the news when you don’t have a fight, and here he is doing it.
Sonnen and Silva’s animosity goes as far back as 2010, when Sonnen was trying to talk himself into a fight with Anderson Silva, who was the middleweight champion at the time.
Sonnen’s verbal assaults against the champ included his training partners and fellow fighters, as well as the country of Brazil. Shortly after Sonnen lost the title fight, the Axe Murderer confronted him in a car and warned him to show some respect or lose his teeth.
Things have escalated since then, and more recently, Sonnen called the fighter out directly following his win over Mauricio Rua. But, according to reports, Silva demanded pay-per-view rights to fight Sonnen, and the match was off.
Sonnen addressed Silva’s antics on UFC Tonight (via Bloody Elbow) when he said the former PRIDE champion just wasn’t “relevant” and was looking for media attention.
Both Silva and Sonnen have flitted between the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions in recent years; however, Sonnen’s record looks far better.
His last win over Rua put him in the top 10 in two weight divisions, while Silva isn’t ranked in the top 10 in either.
If Sonnen defeats his next opponent, Evans, he will have beaten the No. 4 light heavyweight, putting him into serious contention once again.
The American Gangster continues to be hot property, and Silva clearly wants a piece.
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