Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva were the coaches on The Ultimate Fighter 3 Brazil and in the lead up the two did not have a rivalry but that certainly wasn’t the case at the end of the season.
Sonnen’s biggest rival was Anderson Silva, but after he went 0-2 to the legend he squashed the beef. Yet, Wanderlei Silva wasn’t happy with what “The American Gangster” said about Brazil and demanded an apology or he would not film TUF.
“That was a mess,” Sonnen told Burt Watson on MMA Junkie’s “Legend 2 Legend” series. “So, my heat was with Anderson Silva. Anderson would be right to be disgusted with me. I invoked his wife, his entire country, his people. There was spreading that hot sauce, as you put it, all around. But somehow Wanderlei tried to insert himself in the conversation. I’m not clear to this day how Wanderlei became a part of Anderson and I’s beef.”
Throughout the season, it was clear Wanderlei Silva was not a fan of Chael Sonnen and his antics. It got intense and they brawled but Sonnen reveals Silva demanded an apology from him for everything he said to Anderson and about Brazil.
“We get out to ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and this story is already written, we don’t need a script, I get it, he gets it,” Sonnen explained. “He gets to wear the white hat, I’ve got to wear the black hat. I’m the guy that insulted his whole country, and now I’m in the country, it’s not going to be great for me, but he gets to be the big hero. So, on the very first day, for reasons unknown, he stands up before we start filming.
“Wanderlei stands up and goes ‘Before we go any further, unless you apologize, I’m leaving.’ Well, you’re going have to leave, man, because that’s not part of the skit. I do not give apologies, it’s part of being the bad guy. I can’t really come off-brand to make you feel better in a room of empty people when I’m trying to entertain the masses at a later date on television, that just doesn’t happen. So, he left. That was the sucker’s move that he made – he didn’t give himself any other way out.”
What do you make of this story from Chael Sonnen?