Chael Sonnen Invites Anderson Silva To Join His TUF Coaching Team

Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva have had a pretty colourful rivalry in the UFC, dating back to 2009/10 when Sonnen would take any opportunity to publicly trash Silva. ‘The Spider’ was the Middleweight Champion at that time, and Sonnen was 3-1 since crossing over from the WEC to his new home.

The two met at UFC 117 and what transpired was truly incredible; Sonnen put a pretty sound beating on Silva, only to be submitted in the dying seconds of what would have been a fantastic win for Chael P.

Sonnen went on to beat Michael Bisping and Brian Stann, before receiving another shot at Silva’s title. The rematch was not as close as the first, with Silva scoring a TKO victory in round two. Sonnen fell short in yet another title match, this time against Jon Jones at UFC 159, and has since submitted Shogun Rua and got walked through by Rashad Evans at UFC 167.

Beef between Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva has heated up to the point that the two will coach opposite each other in the third season of the Brazilian Ultimate Fighter. Sonnen’s relentless mocking of Silva’s countrymen has been well documented, and it seems that Wand has all the fuel he needs in the lead up to there eventual meeting.

‘The Gangster From Oregon’ is never short of a trick or two, and it appears he may have one up his sleeve for ‘The Axe Murderer’. Check out what Sonnen said to MMAFighting.com:

“I have officially invited Anderson to coach TUF: Brazil as part of my staff.”

Sonnen is renowned for playing mind games and trash talking, but apparently he reached out to Ed Soares to request his rival’s assistance. Anderson’s manager was quoted as saying “I’ll talk to Anderson and get back to you.”

Silva is currently tied up in a Championship match against Chris Weidman at UFC 168, in a rematch of their now infamous UFC 162 bout. How interesting would it be if Silva accepted Sonnen’s offer?

Once again Chael Sonnen’s mouth is doing overtime, but this time I am genuinely intrigued. Sonnen is headed back to 205lbs. for his bout against W. Silva, and perhaps training with ‘The Spider’ would up the Oregon native’s game.