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Chael Sonnen will fight on at 205 pounds, wants Wanderlei Silva

4K views 52 replies 24 participants last post by  Soojooko 
#1 ·
UFC's Chael Sonnen will fight on at 205 pounds, wants Wanderlei Silva
by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Apr 30, 2013 at 10:10 pm ET

Despite suffering a devastating loss to UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones at this past weekend's UFC 159 event, Chael Sonnen (27-13-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC) will continue his fighting career – and he'll do it at 205 pounds.

Sonnen revealed his plans on Tuesday's new edition of "UFC Tonight" while simultaneously calling out MMA legend Wanderlei Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC).

"I will definitely continue – and at 205 pounds, unless they come up with a catchweight," Sonnen said. "They have a couple of people that do that. I know Rich Franklin has fought at catchweights a bunch, but I'm not going to be in contendership anytime soon, and neither is Rich Franklin or a pool of other guys. So there is a little bit of room where we could meet in the middle.

"Now that I've dropped Rich's name, this wasn't my way of challenging Rich. I was speaking to the point of the catchweight situation. I'm going to stick around."

Sonnen said his decision to stay at light heavyweight was based on a lack of appropriate opponents at 185 pounds, as well as the benefit of not needing to cut weight to compete at 205 pounds.

"I'd rather give up the size but have a smile on my face."

Sonnen said he wouldn't completely rule out the idea of a return to middleweight if there's a fight that makes sense in the class, for instance if Chris Weidman is able to unseat middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva at this summer's UFC 162 event.

But for now, Sonnen's immediate plans are to compete at light heavyweight. And if he could hand-pick his opponent, it would be against Wanderlei Silva, a man he's openly bickered with in the past.

He's called me out before, and I've called him out, but the fight never really made sense," Sonnen said. "I was a contender, and he was just a guy on the card. Now I think the fight does make it a little more sense.

"I'm not leaving this sport. Whenever I get asked about retirement, I never say it, but I always think it: I'm not going anywhere until me and Wanderlei straighten this thing out once and for all."
http://www.mmajunkie.com/news/2013/...-fight-on-at-205-pounds-wants-wanderlei-silva
 
#3 ·
Can't wait for the pre-fight hype for this one! Should be an amazing fight, Wanderlei is not gonna wanna lose this one.
 
#14 ·
Did you mean Silva won't lose the pre fight talk or the actual the fight ?


Chael would beat Wandy, but this is a fight that makes sense. Wandy is too old now and Sonnen could easily take him down and LnP to a decision.
I can see a submission for Sonnen or a TKO stoppage.
 
#21 ·
Well if anyone can turn a Wandy fight into a boring lay-n-pray decision, it's Chael P Sonnen! Wand should practice only jitz leading up to this and choke the choke artist out. Chael by decision is most probable though since Wanderlei is content to stand and swing for the fences all day which will lead to many take downs followed up with just enough pitter-patter fists from Chael to keep from being stood up. My heart says Wand my brain says Chael. Stupid brain! WAR WAND!!!
 
#25 ·
I recall Bisping landing a takedown near the end of a round but he instantly got caught up in a choke and was saved by the bell. He stuffed several attempts by Bisping that fight and popped back up from a few others almost instantly.

In both Franklin fight, he could never keep him down for long if he managed to drag Silva down.

He was able to give a typical Wanderlei sprawl through Rampapge's takedown attempts.

Chuck got a few memorable takedowns on him, memorable beacuse everyone was like WTF? Silva was back on his feet though from those pretty quick.

Silva isn't a guy that anyone has had any recent success with in trying to get or keeping him down. I could see Chale being subbed again on the mat or eating shots to the face in his attempts to score a take down.

It'll be a good fight to make money on I have a feeling. Wanderlei is just a much better fighter.
 
#26 ·
This is the type of fight Wanderlei thrives on.

If I were Wandy's coach I would put him through all conditioning workouts where he gets near his level at Pride.

Non-stop Darude Sandstorm maniac mode in the Octagon even if he gets taken down majority of the fight. He can end it with a wild power punch in a scramble.

Fight is pure entertainment value.

*Note* Wandy got taken down against Rampage, grinded out against Arona and yes Tito even though they always show clips of Wandy chasing Tito down...hahahaha.
Actually the last time was against Crocop. That was brutal.
 
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#43 ·
Make this fight! It's really the most compelling fight out there for Chael at any weight class. Either Wand or Machida, just because of past trash talking. May as well let Chael carry on his shtick. If I were the UFC, I'm putting Sonnen vs. Wanderlei on the main event of a Fox card (or Teixiera/Rampage slot in terms of that it's not technically the last fight, but it's the real main event).
 
#44 ·
Most people seem to think the fight will be a beatdown one way or the other. I'm of the belief that this is actually a pretty damn competitive match-up. Sonnen doesnt punch so hard so Wandys chin should hold out, and his ground game is excellent, especially when it comes to getting back on his feet.

Then we have Sonnen with the relentless pressure and awesome takedowns.

They really need to make this fight. It'll be a barn burner in my opinion.
 
#52 ·
There's no debate here for sure and that goes both ways.

@Soo.
Guess we are speaking about the same thing. SURE Wand was unreadable for the most part and Sonnen bringing that up is just obvious, but the point I was making was how hard Wand was trying to find ways to deliver his message. He was pissed at Sonnen for all the things you read in those subtitles later on. Man, when we are angry, sometimes it's hard to find words in our own language...
 
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