Trash talk normally requires two people to participate, but in the case of Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva, only one fighter is needed.

Sonnen's been back, speaking harshly about Silva, his manager Ed Soares, and former middleweight champion and contender Rich Franklin.

On May 30, Sonnen posted the following message on his Twitter account, letting Silva know that he is ready to strip him of the 185-pound title.

"A.S. Your run is T- 70 days. I'm not a math teacher from Ohio. I'm a gangster from Oregon. Talk is cheap, it takes money to buy whiskey."

Two days later, Sonnen laid off Silva and turned his attention to Soares. The Twitter message read:

"Ed, pray to whatever Demon effigy you prance and dance in front of with your piglet tribe of savages that I decide not to CRUCIFY you."

On the other hand, Silva had very few words for Sonnen, saying that the trash talk doesn't both him, and when they step into the ring, it will be a different story.

"Chael's getting his opportunity now to step up and fulfill a dream of his," Silva told MMAFighting through Soares. "There's a lot of fighters out there that are frustrated fighters that say a lot of things that aren't true. They're just trying to hype the fight. But he's gonna have his opportunity on August 7. And a lot of people talk; we'll see what happens."

Some fans believe that Sonnen's trash talking is a way to hype the fight and get his name known. Conversely, the politician has been bad-mouthing the middleweight champion even prior to his last fight, which was against Nate Marquardt. Perhaps Sonnen is very intent on using his wrestling pedigree to grind out a victory over Silva.

The two middleweights will face off at UFC 117 on August 7 in Oakland, California. Other fights slated for that card include Jon Fitch vs. Thiago Alves, Junior dos Santos vs. Roy Nelson, Matt Hughes vs. Ricardo Almeida, Thiago Silva vs. Tim Boetsch, and Clay Guida vs. Rafael dos Anjos.