Will Chael Sonnen Face Anderson Silva For A Third Time?

Chael Sonnen, once again, is calling out a top name fighter. Just days out from his fight night 26 bout with Shogun Rua, Chael P has proclaimed that he wants a third bout former Middleweight boss Anderson Silva.

Before we jump on our high horses, lets check out what The American Gangster had to say during the fight night conference call:

“If Anderson beats Chris Weidman, they’ll go into a rubber match, but I want to fight Anderson either way, regardless of the title. I don’t accept the outcome of either of those matches. We can fight; it doesn’t have to be for a belt. I don’t always chase titles around. I wanted to fight Jon Jones. He just happened to have the title. I want to fight Anderson Silva whether he’s got the belt or not. I’d like to fight him right now.”

Now lets suppose that Chael beats Shogun, and Silva loses the rematch with Weidman. Would Chael have a valid case for a fight against Silva? If it turned out that way, Chael would be in the W column, while Silva would be on a two-fight skid. Although Silva already has two wins over Sonnen, both finishes, Chael is still eager to fight him. Could this be another attempt to talking his way in to a big fight, or could Uncle Chael actually be on to something here?

If Silva beats Weidman, he is probably going to be locked in to a rubber match, which would allow Sonnen some time to climb the rankings of the 185lb. division. If he can beat Vitor Belfort, for instance, then what’s to say that he shouldn’t deserve a shot? Regardless of how many times they have fought, the champion should be fighting the number one guy. Although recent times have proven quite the opposite, Chael could put himself back on the radar if he finally gets his form back.

But a big part of getting a title shot these days in fan appeal, something that I feel is pretty ridiculous. If a fighter beats top guys, performs well and does his job properly; why should popularity play a part? On the other hand, Sonnen really needs to start performing in the cage.

Regardless of fan opinion, the rankings will always be skewed as long as top 10 fighters are pitted against fighters who haven’t won in years. How could you justify moving Shogun Rua anywhere up the scale for beating Sonnen, when you consider that Sonnen has only fought twice at LHW in the past eight years? Not only that, he has lost both of those fights.

All this will mean absolutely nothing if he loses to Shogun on Saturday. But that being said, literally anything can happen in MMA. I would not be at all surprised if Sonnen ends up fighting Silva within a year. And, to be honest, I would most likely watch that fight with anticipation. (ish)