Chael Sonnen, who will be facing Nate Marquardt at UFC 109 in a battle of top UFC middleweight contenders, took some time out from his training to let fans know Nate "The Great" isn't the only fighter on his mind these days.
Sonnen pulled no punches when speaking recently about middleweight champion Anderson Silva, unleashing a tirade seldom heard from a fighter regarding a fellow fighter. Sonnen apparently believes that Silva has been less than honest about his ability to speak English, and lacks respect for fans and the media.
"Who knows what Anderson's doing," Sonnen told MMAWeekly. "At the end of the day, who cares. If he wants to leave the division, leave the sport, who cares. Beat it, nobody tunes in to watch him anyways, and his little fake 'I don't speak English.' You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn't. I've had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he's so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking."
Sonnen also scoffs at the idea that Silva is the world's best fighter, an idea which he believes is a "myth" perpetrated by the media. Though Sonnen expressed doubts that he would ever meet Silva in the octagon, he promised to give him an impressive tongue-lashing if they ever fight.
"It's quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me," Sonnen stated. "How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, 'Jeez, they're out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can't understand them'. That guy's no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods. That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there's a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon. If Anderson ever signed to fight me, which is highly unlikely, he'll be getting a verbal beating like you've never seen. And his language barrier won't be the point of interest."
Silva's manager Ed Soares responded later to Sonnen's accusations, saying that Silva doesn't speak perfect English but that he is working to improve his skills, and currently feels more comfortable having the assistance of a translator when he addresses the media. Soares also had a piece of advice for Sonnen.
"I think Chael should be really focused on his fight that he's got against Nate Marquardt because I can tell you right now that's probably going to be the hardest fight of his life," Soares said. "I would put my money on Nate."
Sonnen is currently riding a 2-fight win streak into his up-coming match-up with Marquardt, most recently earning a unanimous decision victory over Yushin Okami at UFC 104.
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