The Time for Talk Is Almost Over…

(Pro fighters give their predictions for Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen. Dominick Cruz and Jake Shields actually pick the challenger for an upset. Props: YouTube.com/FightMagazine)
Come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m….

(Pro fighters give their predictions for Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen. Dominick Cruz and Jake Shields actually pick the challenger for an upset. Props: YouTube.com/FightMagazine)

Come back to CagePotato.com tomorrow night at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT for our liveblog of UFC 117, which will be run by weekend editor Chad Dundas. You can play along at home by entering some pools in our MMAFightPicker game. After all the hype and all the analysis, we’re dying to find out how Silva vs. Sonnen will actually play out. Where are you guys watching the fights anyway?

Thursday’s UFC 117 Pre-Fight Press Conference in 428 Seconds

(Video courtesy YouTube/Heavy)
If you don’t want to sit through 40 minutes of mostly oblivious reporters asking the same old questions that have been asked a hundred times and hearing fighters regurgitate their equally tired responses ad nauseam at yes…

(Video courtesy YouTube/Heavy)

If you don’t want to sit through 40 minutes of mostly oblivious reporters asking the same old questions that have been asked a hundred times and hearing fighters regurgitate their equally tired responses ad nauseam at yesterday’s UFC 117 pre-fight press conference, check out the above video by Heavy.com that gives you the highlights of the presser in just over seven minutes.

Not surprisingly, the bulk of the clip features Chael Sonnen spinning yarns about how great of a person and fighter he is and how much of a heel Anderson Silva is.

Ironic, isn’t it?

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Dana White Insists Anderson Silva Can’t Repeat UFC 112 Antics

If you think about it, and this is easy for us to say since Chael Sonnen hasn’t been belittling us, our friends and sense of fashion, Anderson Silva might want to thank his next opponent for his over the top trash talk. It’s probably fair to say that if not for Chael’s vicious verbal assault […]

anderson_silva

If you think about it, and this is easy for us to say since Chael Sonnen hasn’t been belittling us, our friends and sense of fashion, Anderson Silva might want to thank his next opponent for his over the top trash talk. It’s probably fair to say that if not for Chael’s vicious verbal assault heading into UFC 117, maybe there still would be a ton of focus on Silva’s WTF? antics vs. Demian Maia. Of course, the post-fight discussion took on a new life following his awful UFC 112 showing, due to Dana White’s insistence that Silva would get canned if he ever acted that way again.

Now we’re not trying to say Silva’s performance against Maia and his subsequent issues with White (and a lot of fans) has completely dropped off the radar screen, but you have to admit, Sonnen’s zingers have certainly dominated the headlines. All this aside, however, White continues to insist that if Silva does in fact have the balls to repeat his UFC 112 actions, Mr. #1 P4P will be unemployed (thanks to MMA Junkie for the quote).

“It’s about acting like a lunatic,” White said. “If he ever goes out and acts like a nut, like he did [at UFC 112], yes, I would cut him.”

Somehow we’re thinking this isn’t going to be an issue come Saturday night—certain things have been said; now it’s go time. To bet on tomorrow’s ‘this should be sick’ card, head here.

UFC 117 Main Event Breakdown: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen

Filed under: UFCRecently, I was talking with an insider of the sport about things unrelated to Saturday night’s UFC 117 middleweight championship fight, when the topic turned to Chael Sonnen for obvious reasons. After all, he is the most interesting ma…

Filed under:

Recently, I was talking with an insider of the sport about things unrelated to Saturday night’s UFC 117 middleweight championship fight, when the topic turned to Chael Sonnen for obvious reasons. After all, he is the most interesting man in the world, at least until early Sunday morning.

The insider, who has spent time with Sonnen in the recent past, began talking about Sonnen’s mental makeup, and some of the outrageous things he’s said in the leadup to his fight with Anderson Silva. The general wisdom holds that Sonnen said these things to drum up interest in the fight, or to get into Silva’s head, but he suggested another reason entirely. Sonnen, he insisted, felt a need to raise the stakes, to invest himself so deeply in the fight that he had no choice but to force himself into the performance of his life.

Sonnen himself has noted that he recently began studying sports psychology and had come to the realization that putting himself in uncomfortable situations and overcoming them seemed to result in an expectation of success. It’s a bold, all-in strategy that has upped the entertainment level of the promotion, but will it result in a charged fight?

Video: Chael Sonnen Talks About UFC 117 Fight With Anderson Silva with Only a Sprinkling of BS for Good Measure

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAAthletics)
Chael Sonnen briefly flashed the hand he’s been playing against Anderson Silva ahead of their UFC 117 showdown Saturday night in an interview with MMAAthletics host Rachelle Leah.
In the interview the Oregon fig…

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAAthletics)

Chael Sonnen briefly flashed the hand he’s been playing against Anderson Silva ahead of their UFC 117 showdown Saturday night in an interview with MMAAthletics host Rachelle Leah.

In the interview the Oregon fighter, who has been less than complimentary towards the UFC middleweight champion in the weeks leading up to the fight gave an explanation of why he turned the smack talk up a notch for Silva.

"I like to irritate Anderson. I think Anderson’s a bully and I think he’s a jerk. I think he’s pushed people around long enough. He’s not the bully on the playground when I’m there. He knows that and I know that. When I walk by Anderson Silva he puts his eyeballs on the curb until I pass; he doesn’t even look me straight in the eye and that’s a smart move by him."

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Thin Line Between Love and Hate for Anderson Silva Fans

Filed under: UFCCONCORD, Calif. – For some of the fans gathered at the UFC Gym for Wednesday afternoon’s UFC 117 open workouts, braving the midday traffic, the teeming crowd, and the long wait just to get a glimpse of Anderson Silva was a labor of love…

Filed under:

CONCORD, Calif. – For some of the fans gathered at the UFC Gym for Wednesday afternoon’s UFC 117 open workouts, braving the midday traffic, the teeming crowd, and the long wait just to get a glimpse of Anderson Silva was a labor of love.

For others, it was slightly more complicated.

“I want to see Anderson Silva get beat really bad,” said Fahrudin Velic, an ardent MMA fan who showed up early along with two friends to ensure a good view of the afternoon’s activities. “He used to be my favorite fighter. I loved Anderson Silva. Then he turned into an ass. If you buy his pay-per-views, it gets you mad because he’s not even fighting.”