Chael Sonnen has decided to play matchmaker with old foe Anderson Silva.
Silva has two fights left on his current UFC contract as the former middleweight king looks set to return to action for the first time since his TKO defeat to Jared Cannonier in May last year.
The problem is UFC president Dana White doesn’t know who to match him up with. Silva recently called for fights with Conor McGregor and Anthony Pettis. However, White doesn’t seem to be as receptive to those ideas.
And so, Sonnen came up with his own suggestions in a recent YouTube video, starting with Nick Diaz.
“I’m starting with Diaz,” Sonnen said (via BJ Penn). “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?”
Sonnen then suggested the younger Diaz sibling in Nate.
“What have we also seen about the Diazs? It doesn’t really matter which one it is,” Sonnen said. “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].”
Sonnen Suggests Silva vs. Lawler
Sonnen rounded it up with the most interesting suggestion yet — Robbie Lawler.
“Here’s one that might surprise you: Robbie Lawler,” he added. “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. 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.”
Do you agree with any of Sonnen’s picks? Who would you like to see “The Spider” face next?