Throughout his dominant reign as UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva has managed to instill fear into every opponent, except for Chael Sonnen.
The Oregon native shocked the world back in August 2010 at UFC 117 in a five-round dismantling of arguably the greatest fighter in MMA history.
Silva, who was used to effortlessly dominating every opponent, looked lost throughout most of the fight as Sonnen proved he was made for more than just spewing memorable punchlines.
In the end, Silva was able to dig himself out of a massive hole in the waning minutes of the fifth round with a submission. While the victory was owed to “The Spider” that night, Sonnen walked away with increased confidence.
There wasn’t anything abnormal or “superhuman” about Silva. He is beatable, and Sonnen may be the only man that can do it.
In an interview with ProMMANow, UFC president Dana White chimed in on why he believes Sonnen is different than any opponent Silva has ever faced:
“The thing I like about Chael…He’s nutty as hell, I mean half the [expletive] the guy says is like what, right? But, he backs it up. When the guy goes in there and fights man he fights. I know this, most guys go in and they’re scared when they fight Anderson. They’re intimidated. He’s got like that Tyson aura. People are scared and afraid. Chael Sonnen is not afraid of Anderson Silva. He’s not. And that makes it a completely different fight than anybody else he fights.”
Sonnen has had plenty to say since his UFC 117 loss to Silva. He has been bold enough to not only call out the champ, but he has also taken verbal jabs at Silva’s teammates, family and the entire country of Brazil.
The Silva and Sonnen rematch is already being billed as one of the biggest grudge matches in UFC history. As usual, White has opted to stay away from making any predictions, but he is admittedly looking forward to this blockbuster fight.
“Well, I don’t ever make predictions but a lot of people don’t like Chael or like Chael, whatever the case may be. I do believe that Anderson Silva is the greatest fighter ever in MMA history, and not just the UFC, I think he’s the greatest ever. He’s broke every record in UFC history, and Chael Sonnen is the only guy to almost ever beat him. I think it’s going to be a fun fight. It’s either going to be an absolute war, Anderson is going to go out and destroy him quickly, or who knows. It’s definitely interesting.”
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