You won’t see Anderson Silva in a super-fight against GSP or even another jump to light heavyweight anytime soon. Anderson Silva’s next fight will be a UFC middleweight title defense and it won’t be against Vitor Belfort no matter how bad he wants it. Dana White revealed Chael Sonnen is next for Anderson Silva on Rome is Burning earlier today.
“We’ll find out in his next fight if I got through to him or not. He’s got a real tough fight coming up because his next fight is going to be against Chael Sonnen. And Chael Sonnen is one of these guys who’s not going to lay back, not going to do what these other guys did. When he’s been in this position when these types of fights have happened, he’s been against real good jiu jitsu guys, guys who want to get the fight to the ground. Well, Chael Sonnen is going to want to take this fight to the ground, but he’s going to double-leg him and bring him down.”
That’s not all Dana had to say about Anderson on ESPN. Dana claims he won’t hesitate to cut Anderson if he ever pulls that crap in the Octagon again.
“Personally I think he was embarrassed by what he did that night,” White said. “Maybe he had a mental breakdown — I don’t know what happened in the ring. All I can say is I know his next opponent isn’t going to be a guy who’s going to lay back. Chael Sonnen is going to take it to him, and hopefully we never see that again. If we do, I’ll tell you this: If he ever acts like that again in the ring, I will cut him. I don’t care if he’s the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, I don’t care if he is the middleweight champion. I will cut him, absolutely.”
It’s pretty clear where Dana White stands on the subject, but what about Chael Sonnen? He’s seen the fight, or at least as much as he could get through knowing the outcome. What if Anderson “disrespects” him?
Look, I’m not a gang banger. I don’t talk about “respect.” That term is for street thugs, not me…I expect him to hit me, and I expect it to hurt. I just don’t care.
Classic Chael Sonnen… Chael says you can expect one thing when he steps in the cage with Anderson…”A fight. There is nothing in my background to make you think I will run, dance, or hide.”
As for when and where this middleweight showdown will occur, nothing is official yet, but MMA Junkie is hearing it could go down at UFC 117 on August 7 in Salt Lake City.
Update: More must-read comments from Chael Sonnen from interview on
Hardcore Sports Radio with Mauro Ranallo (.mp3) via BE:
It was hard to watch…I didn’t watch the whole thing, but I tried. I saw the beginning and I saw the end. I was having plenty of conversations during it, I’m in the same boat as the rest of the world. Who cares? Nobody cares about Anderson Silva.
He talked about retiring and nobody cared. He talked about going heavyweight and nobody cared. Now he talks about going to 205, and nobody cares! I did an autograph signing with Anderson Silva, there was a line around the building to get to my room. You could have heard a rat piss on cotton in his room! Nobody was in there. Nobody cares about Anderson Silva, it’s the hardest sell in the world. Nobody shows up to see him. If BJ Penn wasn’t on that card that building’s empty Saturday night.
I’ve stuck my finger in this guy’s chest for 3 and a half years and he’s fought everyone in the world that isn’t named Chael Sonnen. I can’t tell you what a nuisance he is. This isn’t like some exciting thing to get to fight him, it’s just truly an annoyance, and I’m looking forward to it being over with just so I can move on and be done with the jerk.