Former Duck AA Chael Sonnen Takes On Anderson Silva

Silva (left) Sonnen (right)

Going off topic here by talking about something other than Duck football, but it still has a connection to the Oregon Ducks.

Another sport I love to follow is MMA, and more specifically, the UFC.  In one of the most anticipated showdowns in UFC history, Anderson "the spider" Silva takes on former All-American wrestler at the University of Oregon, Chael Sonnen, in a rematch, on July 7th.  The two headline an already impressive card as part of UFC 148.

Sonnen, who learned how to fight "on the mean streets of West Linn," is a notorious trash talker but he backs it up.  He has a 27-11 career record.  His favorite target for his trash talk is Anderson Silva (which you can see in the video link I posted above), whom he hates.

For those that don't know, Anderson Silva is like the Michael Jordan of MMA. He's ridiculously good and almost unstoppable.  He is the current UFC middleweight champion with a record of 31-4.  He is the consensus number one pound-for-pound fighter in the world according to ESPN, Sherdog, Yahoo! sports, MMAFighting.com, and more.  Silva currently holds the longest winning streak (14) and title defense streak (9) in UFC history.

He also hates Sonnen.  The two have a history together going back to their first fight at UFC 117, August 7th, 2010.

Sonnen trash talked the whole time leading up to the fight, saying he was going to "retire" Silva.  Thing is, he almost beat Silva!  He's really the last guy you can say that about.  The fight went 5 rounds before Sonnen tapped out by submission, 3:10 into the fifth round.

Leading up to their second fight, Sonnen is once again talking his trash, and getting more personal with it.  He even had the balls to do it at a press conference in Silva's own backyard in Rio...and not surprisingly Silva is mad.

Silva told MMAWeekly.com "what I'm going to do to Chael has never been done before.  I'm going to break his arms, legs, and teeth."

UFC president Dana White also had this to say, "I've never heard Anderson Silva talk like this."

My thoughts is this...Sonnen - while capable of backing it up - probably has written a check his mouth can't cash this time.  It's not wise to tug on superman's cape.  Any chance the champion Silva was getting lazy by punkin one opponent after the next are probably gone.  Sonnen's got his full attention.  You don't give cats like these - Jordan, Silva, Kobe - any kind of motivation cause they will use it!

As a Duck I like Sonnen, but Silva is my guy.  I'd like to see him win and I think he will.