Chael Sonnen talks about his upcoming boxing match and decade-long rivalry with Anderson Silva: "I'm all in"
Chael Sonnen recently discussed his upcoming boxing bout against Anderson Silva as well as their legendary rivalry that dates back to 2010. The bout is scheduled to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil this Saturday.
'The American Gangster' and 'The Spider' competed in the octagon twice, with the Brazilian getting his hand raised and successfully retaining his middleweight championship on both occasions. The timing of the boxing bout is quite unique as their first encounter will be inducted into the Fight Wing of this year's UFC Hall of Fame in two weeks.
During a special episode of ESPN's Good Guy / Bad Guy, the former UFC title challenger discussed how the bout came together and his thought process. Sonnen mentioned that he still thinks about his losses to Silva and is going to Brazil with the intention of defeating his longtime rival in his final bout. He said:
"I am all in...If I lose this, I will be devastated...I have thought about this man [Silva] every single day for ten years and that's a very private thing...I'm just letting you know, there's nothing about this where I'm going, 'Well you know, boxing's not quite my style', no, I am going out there to beat this man, to fix my life or I'm gonna go the rest of my days looking at my career as a miserable fail." [4:17 - 4:59]
Check out the full episode of Good Guy / Bad Guy below:
Chael Sonnen opens up about his relationship with Anderson Silva
Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva's rivalry was a memorable one that got personal at times as the American took jibes at the former UFC middleweight champion and the country of Brazil.
Despite the rivalry, it appears as though the two are very cordial and on much better terms with each other. During the aforementioned episode, Sonnen mentioned that he believes Silva might have misunderstood his intention of selling their fights because of their respective paths to MMA. He said:
"He [Silva] came through the real competitive era and I was the start of what's known as the entertainment era and they didn't necessarily blend really well. I believe that over time...he can now look back and he does understand it in the sense that he says that he thinks he would've even had more fun in his career if he had participated in it." [2:07 - 2:30]
Check out the promo announcing Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen being inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame below: