Thursday, October 24, 2013
MANCHESTER – When you think about Chael Sonnen’s beefs over the years, the first one that probably comes to mind is Anderson Silva.
So it might come as a bit of a surprise to think that when Sonnen found out he’d be coaching “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3,” Silva popped right into his head as a potential assistant coach.
Sonnen (29-13-1 MMA, 7-6 UFC) will be coaching the third season of “TUF: Brazil” opposite the latest Brazilian he has drawn some ire out of, Wanderlei Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC). UFC President Dana White made the announcement earlier this week, even to Sonnen’s surprise.
Sonnen will have to travel to Brazil, where he hasn’t made any friends through the years with comments he’s made toward essentially the entire populous, but mostly while bashing many of the country’s national MMA heroes like both Silvas and Vitor Belfort.
After the coaching announcements were made, Wanderlei Silva posted on his Facebook page that he was in favor of a format change. Instead of Sonnen and Silva each coaching teams of Brazilian fighters, Silva wants to up the ante on the U.S. vs. Brazil rivalry with Sonnen coaching American fighters and Silva coaching his Brazilian countrymen.
On Thursday while in Manchester to help corner Luke Barnatt at UFC Fight Night 30, Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com he would be in favor of that scenario. But he also shot back at the notion that Silva was any more Brazilian that he was, and that when it comes to his rivalry with Anderson Silva, it’s largely over – enough that he’d even want to have him as one of his coaches on the show, if it could work out.
“I don’t know that I’m against (Americans vs. Brazilians) – I hadn’t heard that comment. I like it,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com. “(But) let’s make sure we’re clear here. Wanderlei Silva lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. I live in West Linn, Oregon. Neither of us are from Brazil. The first chance he had to leave his countrymen, he did. He owns a business in America. He pays taxes to America. He enrolled his kids into an American school system. And he has contributed a grand total of zero dollars to Brazil, to any Brazilian charity. And there is no Brazilian charity that will defend him and come forward and say otherwise. He left that country. He was robbed, the last time he went to that country, at gunpoint – that is also on the record. So they’re bringing in two outside guys.”
But that certainly doesn’t mean Sonnen will be looked at in Brazil as any less the enemy.
For that, though, he’s not worried. And presuming he’s coaching a team of Brazilian up-and-coming fighters, he said as long as those competitors are open to learning from him, there’s no reason it can’t work.
“I have a job to do,” Sonnen said. “I said I would go there to coach them, and I meant it. And it won’t be to pick fights with Wanderlei or to build up a fight between he and I. I’ll be there for one reason, and that’s to coach. How the athletes respond, it’s a two-person sport – they need to do their part. It’s their experience, and that would be up to them.”
But when Sonnen said he’d like to hit up his old nemesis Anderson Silva, it almost seemed as if it was a ready-made sound bite – so ridiculous of a possibility that it had to be laughed off.
Sonnen twice fought Silva for the middleweight title, twice losing. In their first fight at UFC 117, Sonnen dominated for more than four rounds before a Silva miracle armbar-triangle choke force him to tap. In their rematch at UFC 148, Sonnen again found much success in the first round. But in the second, attempting a spinning backfist, he slipped, and Silva took advantage, leading to a TKO victory.
Sonnen knows getting Anderson Silva to help him coach against friend and countryman Wanderlei Silva is a long shot. But he also knows it would be good for the fighters he winds up coaching.
“Anderson Silva was one of my first thoughts to ask,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com. “And again, that wouldn’t be for me or Anderson. That would be for the young men who are kicking and clawing and trying to get into the UFC. I think his knowledge of the sport is tremendous, but also his ability to communicate in a Portuguese atmosphere would be very helpful.
“I think he’s got a relationship with Wanderlei, so it’s probably not likely. But that doesn’t mean I won’t reach out.”
Sonnen has been pushing for a fight with Wanderlei Silva for a while now. In August, he stopped Mauricio Rua with a first-round guillotine choke. But it’s been the lure of a potential fight with Silva that has kept things interesting for him – even as he booked a fight at UFC 167 next month against Rashad Evans (18-3-1 MMA, 13-3-1 UFC).
And when that hurdle has been cleared, win or lose, he’ll turn his focus to “TUF: Brazil 3″ and Silva. When asked if he thought Silva would need security in Brazil, given his comment about him being robbed, the same way Sonnen will need security in a country he has riled up on many occasions, Sonnen alluded to the potential he could send Silva into retirement.
“I don’t know what he needs, and I’m not focused on him in that regard,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com. “I think he should enjoy the remaining moments that he has in this sport.”
For more on the UFC’s upcoming schedule, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
(Pictured: Chael Sonnen) Edit this article
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Anderson Silva as Sonnens;TUF assistant coach? Chael plans to reach out
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