Wanderlei Silva Tries to “Chael Sonnen” Chael Sonnen, but It Doesn't Appear to Work
Chael Sonnen, upon announcing that he wasn't ready for retirement, immediately took aim at lining up his first post-Jon Jones opponent, Wanderlei Silva.
Sonnen lobbied hard and heavy for the fight, even going so far as making up his own promotional poster, trying to make the fight happen on the UFC’s upcoming Fox Sports 1 event in August.
When Silva didn’t respond, Sonnen issued an ultimatum.
“Wand - you have 24 hours to accept,” he tweeted. “If you do, I will donate 10% of my purse to help schools in your hometown of Curitiba .. I mean, VEGAS.”
The deadline has come and gone, and it appears that the opportunity to put the fight together may have as well.
“I only follow a couple of rules in fighting, but one of them is you don’t bully a guy,” said Sonnen on Tuesday night’s edition of UFC Tonight. “If a guy doesn’t want to fight, you don’t keep picking on him.
“I gave (Silva) the timeline. I was also giving it to myself. If he doesn’t answer, I’m done and I’ll move on, and I have.”
Sonnen was then hit with comments from UFC Tonight reporter Ariel Helwani, who spoke with Silva prior to the show.
Silva said that he hadn’t even heard of Sonnen’s deadline, and added that UFC officials have not offered him the bout. He sounded as if he wanted the fight, however, providing a few choice words aimed squarely at Sonnen.
“Jon Jones and Anderson Silva have been too nice to Chael. I want to suck his blood. I want to smell it,” he said. “Not just fight. Not just fight. I want to hurt him.
“Chael is a joke man. He is going to be second forever. He is never going to be first.”
Silva was obviously playing Sonnen’s baiting game and shoving it right back in his face, but it didn’t sound as if Sonnen took the hook.
“I think the real breaking news there is that Wanderlei Silva put together a coherent sentence that somebody understood,” commented Sonnen. “But I can assure you, Wanderlei, I will not be signing a contract for you to suck on any part of me. I suggest you go to a bath and find yourself.”
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