Chael Sonnen reveals details of his dislike toward Wanderlei Silva: ‘I couldn’t trust him, I couldn’t let him get close’
MMA legend, Chael Sonnen reveals the one fighter that he truly did not like during his career.
Chael Sonnen’s MMA career spanned over two decades and from fighting Forrest Griffin back in 2003 to fighting Fedor Emelianenko in 2019, the 45-year-old fought nothing but the best. Along with his superb grappling, Sonnen was also known for his trash talk and managed to get under the skin of many opponents.
However, even though Sonnen was involved in his fair share on intense rivalries, he said there was only one fighter he truly did not like.
“Wanderlei (Silva), that’s not the case anymore, now I like Wanderlei – I wish him well”, Sonnen said on the True Geordie podcast. “Because he frightened me, he was one of those guys I didn’t know if I could trust him I knew when the fight started this guy was vicious. I mean they call him the axe murderer for good reason.
“He as over in pride where they’d kick guys when they were down, stomp on their face, he really had a very vicious style. I didn’t know if I could trust him before the referee said go, so I didn’t know if I could trust him on stage, I didn’t know if I could trust him at press conferences.
Sonnen and Silva coached opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter back in 2014 in which the two would be involved in a couple physical altercations. However, they would not fight until three years later, Sonnen would earn a unanimous decision win in the main event of a Bellator card.
“My fathers thing was not you can defend yourself If as long as he throws the first punch, my fathers thing was don’t ever let them within reach”, Sonnen said. “Don’t ever let them within range, if they’re upset and they’re within an arms distance the fight has now started, so go. That was the thing with Wanderlei, I couldn’t let him get close as soon as he would get in, I couldn’t trust him. That wasn’t fun quite frankly, that was an easy was to go about life for a while.
