Wanderlei Silva: I Guarantee Shogun Rua Will Retire Chael Sonnen
It’s easy to lose track of how many people have fueds with Chael Sonnen, the outspoken Oregonian has been my workload this week so far. It appears that the bad blood between Chael P and Wanderlei Silva still runs hot too. Wandy and Sonnen’s beef goes back to when Chael was mocking Brazilian culture in the lead up to the first Silva fight, and Wandy famously confronted Sonnen and made him apologize.
Fast forward to 2013 and Sonnen calls out Silva (wand) in the wake of the second Anderson Silva loss. The fight never materializes, but the fued continued, and now Chael is booked in against Shogun Rua at UFC on FS1: Boston. Obviously Silva had something to say on the matter via UFC Tonight’s Twitter account:
I guarantee that @ShogunRua will retire @Sonnench in their fight on @FOXSports1. @wandfc according to @arielhelwani
— UFC Tonight (@UFCTonight) July 24, 2013
Obviously Sonnen was quick to respond:
“I always find it amusing when a guy threatens to hurt me in the middle of a cage fight. I kind of expect that,” Sonnen quipped. “But as far as Wanderlei goes, look, I think you might be asking him the wrong question, Ariel. The question shouldn’t be, ‘Why isn’t he fighting me?’ The question should be, ‘Why isn’t he asking to fight me?’ I’ve degraded him, I’ve disparaged him, and I’ve ridiculed him for years. I feel like he should be calling me out.”
I will be very interested to see the outcome of the Rua vs. Sonnen fight, and as far as Sonnen’s recent challenge to Vitor Belfort is concerned, I think it should wait until Wand and Sonnen have fought at 185lbs. The beef between the two needs settling, big time.
I’m a huge Wanderlei fan, and have been ever since his old Vale Tudo days, I know he has nothing left to prove, but at the same time I really want to see him fight Sonnen.
This is the power of Sonnen, the guy hasn’t won in 18 months and most fans still want to see him in high profile fights. Wandy is coming off a highlight reel KO finish of Brian Stann, in a fight of the year candidate, and a fight with Sonnen would probably be a great spectacle.
