Chael Sonnen’s message to the UFC and Silva: “I want to do this again. The party ain’t over yet”
Former UFC middleweight title contender, Chael Sonnen has already met with UFC officials about the next step in his octagon career following his razor close loss to Anderson Silva this past weekend in Oakland, California… and they’ll be no surprise that he wants a second crack at the Brazilian.
Speaking via MMAFighting.com, Sonnen’s manager, Mike Roberts said:
“We’ve had talks. I just had a talk with [the UFC] [Monday] morning. You know, we don’t tell them how to do their job. The only thing that we do is tell them what we want, and the simple question was asked, ‘What does Chael want?’ And Chael’s answer was, ‘I want to do this again. The party ain’t over yet.’”
“They said they were going to figure it out, probably in the next week. Dana [White] and Joe Silva are going to get together and put their heads together and see what makes sense. I’m sure Anderson and Ed are going to say their opinions on what they think and we’re going to say our opinions on what we think, and Dana and Joe will figure out the best scenario. But I can’t imagine that any less than 7 out of 10 fans would want to see that fight again.”
“I believe [Silva injured his ribs], but my take on that is this: even if it’s true, there’s no need to say that; there’s no point. And I mean, Chael has plenty of issues that distracted him and injuries going into this fight that it’s just pointless to bring up. I don’t know of a fighter that has gone in [to a fight] non-injured.”
“I don’t blame them for wanting to fight Vitor Belfort first. I mean, look what you saw. You think Anderson is dying to get back in there for another five rounds of that? I don’t blame him for saying that. It makes way more sense for Chael and Anderson to fight again. I’m sure Dana will make the right decision. He’s a very smart guy.”
Anderson Silva’s manager, Ed Soares also spoke to the same website and gave his opinion on the whole situation.
“The way I look at it is, Chael fought his fight. And Chael had Anderson on his back for twenty-two minutes of that fight. …The way I feel is that Chael had Anderson in the position he wanted him, and if he wasn’t able to finish Anderson in twenty-two minutes in the position you said you wanted him in, then, hey man, you had your shot. No offense, not saying you can’t get another shot, but you know what I mean?”
Despite the wishes of Sonnen’s camp it appears Vitor Belfort will get the next shot at the champion inside the octagon. With Silva’s air of invincibility in tatters following UFC 117, is this the perfect time to face “The Spider” or will he simply view it as an opportunity to make an example of someone. Tell us what you think…
By Michael Pepper. (Follow me on Twitter)
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