Sonnen at UFC 148 Presser: I have stones just like John Holmes

Sparks flew at Lagasse’s Stadium inside the Palazzo in Las Vegas, Nevada, which played host to the press conference for UFC 148 Silva vs. Sonnen II. Silva and Sonnen have been going back and forth with the normally reserved “Spider” getting into the verbal fray after hearing Sonnen’s trademark trash-talk lately.

When asked why Silva did not initially want to fight a rematch against Sonnen, the champion responded: “I am here to fight whoever they put in front of me and sometimes my opinion doesn’t make much of a difference but I will fight whoever I put in front of me. Play time is over, it’s over. Saturday, a lot of things are going to change. Things are going to be much different after Saturday.”

Sonnen, ever the self-promoter fired back: “I fight like Jon Jones. I make songs like Sean Combs and I have trombone size stones just like John Holmes.”

Sonnen denied that he has a “home-court advantage”. When asked if he felt safer fighting in Las Vegas than Brazil, he laughed and asked the reporter if she had read the news and that Sin City is not all that “safe” in its own right, coming back to Silva and taking a shot at Ed Soares for translating, he added: “Anderson lives in a mansion in Beverly Hills, he has home-court advantage. He’s closer to Las Vegas than I am. This is insanity. He pretends he doesn’t speak English like he’s pretending he’s the world champion walking around with a phony belt; this is insane. The fight in Brazil would have been neutral territory. Why are you asking questions in English? Anderson sits here like he doesn’t understand you. First off, he speaks English. We could replace Ed Soares with an app I could download for $9.99.”

When asked if he thought he took things to far, Sonnen was quick to say: “People say this shouldn’t be personal, but it is personal. I don’t give a damn if I hurt his feelings. The record speaks for itself. He’s the champion but I’m the best. I’m a world class athlete. He’s a martial artist but I’m a cagefighter. There’s a big difference. I don’t know what respect is about. There’s no point in paying the prices that I have paid for anything less than to set your goals at the top. He tried to make me go in the corner and wilt like Vitor Belfort, but that’s not who I am.”

Silva responded with: “I have no words to really explain other than the game is over. The game is over and you guys will see on Saturday night what I’m talking about. I don’t have anything else to say other than he’s screwed. All of us athletes are part of an elite group. I believe that the comments he made about my wife, the comments he made about my country are very disrespectful to me, my country and the UFC. We are elite athletes and shouldn’t be talking that way to each other. Chael tested positive for steroids, he offended a nation, he was charged with a crime. How can you take anything this guy says for real. This guy is ridiculous.”

Silva has long felt that Sonnen does not deserve this fight and said so, quite plainly: “I don’t believe Chael deserves the rematch, but I’m an employee of the UFC. If I have to go out and beat his ass 10 more times, I’ll beat his ass 10 more times.  Chael once again, I feel he doesn’t deserve it. He was in his most dominant position for most of the fight. If I was in the most dominant position for a few seconds, the fight wouldn’t have went the way it went. The other fighters I’ve faced in the UFC was more qualified than Chael. I beat a guy for five rounds in Abu Dhabi and he submitted Chael in seconds in the UFC.””

At the end when it is all over, Silva was asked, would he respect Sonnen like all his previous opponents. The Spider answered: “Of course I will show respect after the fight. I respect all my opponents and he falls under the same category. I am a martial artist first and I will respect him because that was the way I was raised.”

When the fighters were asked about their predictions for the fight, Sonnen said: “All I can tell you is this is gonna be a hard fight. I’m gonna wait for him to throw a kick like he always does, put my forehead into his chest and run my fist into his head for 25 minutes or until he gives up. I’m bigger, faster and stronger. All I can tell you that the Chael of today could beat up the Chael of two years ago and the Chael of two years ago stomped this bum.”

Silva predicted a first round victory, saying: “The way it is going to happen is that I am going to him him, hit him some more, hit him more, he will try to grab onto me and then I will keep hitting him until he gives up.”

Silva remained calm for the remainder of the Presser, but things got heated during the staredown and UFC President Dana White had to step in to restrain Silva when the champion went on the offensive.