UFC 148 Conference Call Audio: Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen engage in "War of Words"

Today the UFC 148 media conference call took place and had some great quotes from the combatants involved, as well as some comments from Dana White. Of course the always entertaining Chael Sonnen was on hand to spread his word, and the UFC Middleweight challenger also spoke out against his longtime rival. Normally we do not see Anderson Silva become so animated about an opponent, it appears this fight has become personal for him. Some of his actual translations were quite intense and vocal, to say the least. Silva had the following quotes about the blockbuster UFC 148 main event:

“Chael is a criminal. He’s been convicted of crimes. He doesn’t deserve to be in the Octagon. When the time is right, I’m going to break his face and break every one of his teeth in his mouth.”

“I don’t live in the past. The things in the past are in museums. Playtime is over. I’m gonna beat Chael like he’s never been beat before. There’s no more talking. I’m going to beat his ass out of the UFC. He’s never gonna want to fight again after I’m done with him.” – via MMAMania.com

Some very strong words from the longtime reigning champion, who is normally quite reserved in his dealings with the public. This would seem to be fueled by the constant, berating trash talk given by Sonnen, who did not stop the trend today and said:

“All that happened was Anderson found himself in a fight for the first time. His skills are amateur. If you walk into a fight with your fists down, that’s amateur. I treated him like an amateur the first time and I’ll treat him like an amateur this time.”

“The stakes are pretty high on this one. It’s not like I’m trying to score points on the guy, he’s trying to do damage to me.”

“I’ve got two words for Anderson Silva: medium rare.”

Lastly Dana White had his own comments on the perceived success of the summer’s biggest card, and weighed in on the fans turning on Clay Guida last Friday:

“There’s no doubt that we expect over 1 million buys here. We expect UFC 100 numbers.”

“It’s unfortunate that these guys were involved in a sport where you’re only as good as your last fight. For Clay Guida, he was a star until the third round of that fight and everyone turned on him and started cheering for Gray. It’s a crazy sport.”

Some entertaining words from two great fighters and the UFC President, fueling the fire in hope that UFC 148 will be one of the best events ever. Is Chael Sonnen inside the calm champion’s head? If so, can he use this to his advantage and deal The Spider his first-ever UFC loss?

Further Reading: Fight Camp Insider: Chael Sonnen prepares for UFC 148