No one outside of the higher-ups at UFC knows whether or not Wanderlei Silva vs. Chael Sonnen will headline the promotion’s first FOX Sports 1 show in August. However, that doesn’t mean these two rivals are going to stop hyping a potential showdown.
Speaking with ESPN’s Brett Okamoto, “The Axe Murderer” scoffed at the notion that Sonnen would be able to take him down and maintain top position for three rounds.
“The probability I knock out Chael Sonnen is very big,” Silva said. “Man, everybody knows his game. He is never going to take me down and I’m going to break his nose with my knee.”
The Brazilian fan favorite also indicated that he is waiting on a phone call on who he’s fighting next and doesn’t have any indication of whether or not a match up with “The American Gangster” will materialize.
“I’m training right now and waiting,” Silva told ESPN.com. “I have a guy asking are you going to accept a challenge — man, nobody has contacted me officially. The boss don’t call me, so I’m waiting.”
Last Thursday, Sonnen issued a 24-hour challenge to Silva (via Sherdog), which Silva did not address until this week’s edition of UFC Tonight on Tuesday.
Silva’s response, well past the deadline Sonnen set, indicated that he wanted to “suck his blood,” (via Yahoo! Sports) and that Jon Jones and Anderson Silva went too easy on the Team Quest standout.
Sonnen is coming off back-to-back title losses in the UFC’s middleweight and light heavyweight divisions, respectively.
The former two-time All-American collegiate wrestler was stopped by Anderson Silva at UFC 148 in July, before getting completely outclassed by Jones at UFC 159 last month.
The perennial contender is just 2-3 in his past five bouts. However, he hasn’t lost a non-title bout since getting submitted by Demian Maia at UFC 95 in February 2009.
On the other hand, Silva is 3-2 in his past five fights, including a vintage knockout over Brian Stann at UFC on FUEL 8 in March.
Will the trash talking be all for naught or is Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva destined to be booked any day now?
John Heinis is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.
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