Anderson Silva Not Happy with Chael Sonnen’s Comments; Rematch Looming

The look on UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s face on Saturday night was worth a million words.
As Chael Sonnen spoke in the cage following his win over Brian Stann at UFC 136, it was more than obvious that Silva’s ire was raised and his normally infectious smile had faded away.
UFC President Dana White knows better than anybody that Anderson Silva is not a fan of Chael Sonnen, and at this point there’s not much of a chance that a rematch doesn’t happen.
Check out what UFC President Dana White had to say about the epic rivalry between Silva and Sonnen:

UFC 136 Results: Chael Sonnen Dominates, Places Bet on Anderson Silva Rematch

Chael Sonnen put in a dominant performance and won his fight with Brian Stann at UFC 136 in Houston.
Sonnen submitted Stann in the second frame, but it was his comments that followed the win that made the biggest impact, as the always-vocal middleweight called out Anderson Silva.
Sonnen swarmed and immediately went for a clinch in this one. Sonnen stayed active in the clinch and tripped Stann down to the canvas right into side control. After a scramble, Sonnen worked his way to mount, then captured Stann’s back. “All-American” did what he could to get out of defensive positions, but Sonnen stayed very active and remained in top control, pounding away with strikes through the end of the round.
Sonnen came out in the second round and immediately took Stann down. He worked from side control and found full-mount just past a minute into the round. Sonnen kept the aggressive approach and worked on the ground until the referee stood them up, presumably because he thought there was a lack of action, but that was clearly not the case, as both stayed very active. Sonnen got rocked with a Stann strike, but eventually picked up his opponent and slammed him down to bring the fight to the ground again. Sonnen then worked his way to a side choke and finished the fight in the second round.
Despite dominating Stann at UFC 136, Sonnen had only one fighter to talk about in his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
And that fighter is the UFC middleweight champion.
“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck!” Sonnen said.
And if that wasn’t enough, Sonnen is willing to put a wager on the fight that, according to him, will take place the weekend of the Super Bowl.
“Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business, I’m calling you out, Silva, but we’re upping the stakes,” he said. “(If) I beat you, you leave the division. (If) you beat me, I will leave the UFC forever.”
Sonnen, clearly, has his eyes set on Anderson Silva, and while the date of the fight is unofficial, it appears he’ll get his rematch with the UFC middleweight champ in February. Stann loses his first middleweight fight and drops to 11-4, overall.

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Ariel Helwani:Chael Sonnen: 'I Don't Make Things Up'

HOUSTON -- MMA Fighting spoke to Chael Sonnen on Thursday about his UFC 136 fight against Brian Stann, his return to the UFC, his thoughts on fighting Stann and whether he thinks he will get a title shot if he beats Stann.

Ben Fowlkes: A Kinder, Gentler Chael Sonnen...Sort Of

Chael Sonnen got dealt a tough hand when the UFC matched him up against Brian Stann for UFC 136. It's not necessarily the difficulty of the fight itself -- though Stann's no pushover, oddsmakers give the edge to Sonnen.

No, for the Sonnen the trouble is all in the approach. How do you keep your over-the-top, pro wrestler-meets-insult comic persona going when you're fighting a war hero who's so inoffensive and wholesome that he could make a slice of apple pie feel like a dirty commie by comparison?

Judging by Sonnen's demeanor at Wednesday's pre-fight press conference, you don't. You play nice. You praise instead of berate. You do everything short of writing him a letter of recommendation, and then you wait for an opportunity to go back to talking about Anderson Silva.

"Nobody wants to fight Brian Stann," Sonnen said on Wednesday afternoon in Houston. "I'm not the only guy and that's not a big secret. But our paths are going to cross sooner or later. He keeps beating people up and so that's just the way it goes."

Presumably Sonnen then had to rush back to the hotel for some mouthwash just to get the unfamiliar taste of compliments out of his mouth.

Not that Stann was making things easy on him, mind you. He praised Sonnen's wrestling ability, his penchant for making other people fight his kind of fight, and even jogged down memory lane with his opponent, telling a story about when Sonnen served as a ringside announcer for his first pro bout.

"I don't even think he remembers, but I remember meeting him there and he was very respectful to a guy who was 0-0 at the time," Stann said, to which Sonnen replied that he remembered the fight and the meeting very clearly and recalled that Stann was "very nice back."

"Awwww," said UFC president Dana White, who might have been wondering what happened to the guy who once sat down at a pre-fight press conference and declared, "I don't really know what respect means. That sounds like something a kid in the street says after he's getting ready to take your coat and your shoes."

Of course, that little gem came before Sonnen's bout with the UFC middleweight champ Silva, who remains his go-to target for his choicest bits of trash talk.

"I'm out trying to pick a fight and I'm not making any qualms about it. I've been after Anderson for some time and that's it," said Sonnen, who added that he also had "a beef" with the other fighters in the UFC who continually ask for title shots.

"I've never told Dana I want a title fight; I told him I want the title," Sonnen said. "That's a big difference between me and everybody else."

You see? He's still got his gift with language when he wants it, but against a guy like Stann there just isn't much you can do with it. A man who once explained that he doesn't believe in utilizing the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu guard because that would involve lying on his back with another man between his legs and "I'm a Republican and we don't do that," probably also isn't going to make much headway trying to insult a former U.S. Marine with more boy-next-door charm than he knows what to do with.

Maybe the best Sonnen can do is play the nice guy for now, or at least as nice as he can stand to be. One way or another, he acknowledged, he still has a fight on Saturday night, and what happens once the cage door slams shut is the same whether you can find something bad to say about the other guy or not.

"When that guy in the shark suit gets out of the ring and the guy with the dreadlocks says 'fight,'" Sonnen said, "I will."

And if things go his way, maybe soon he'll be able to get back to being the Chael Sonnen we've come to know and expect.

Thomas Gerbasi: And Away We Go - Chael Sonnen Returns

“People like respect and I’m the only respectful fighter in the whole sport. A lot of other fighters have a real misunderstanding that lying and dishonesty is respectful." - Chael Sonnen

 

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When you hear Chael Sonnen describe life as a middleweight contender in the UFC, it’s almost as if every day is Groundhog Day.

“In my life, nothing changes,” said Sonnen, who returns to the Octagon after an absence of more than a year to face Brian Stann at UFC 136 this Saturday night. “Every fight I do the same thing. I do the same thing on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all my practices are the same, I work out with the same guys, and I’ve got the same coaches. Take running for example – I run the same distance and I try to beat the same time every single time. Every step I run, I try to get up those steps a little bit faster regardless of who the opponent is. I’ve never looked at opponents. I’ve had people ask me ‘what’s your strategy?’ And I’m not even looking at him. It could be anybody. I’m just looking at myself. How fast are my hands, how many punches did I throw today, did I eat the right things, how many hours of sleep did I get last night? I only look at myself. The Octagon’s the same size, Herb Dean’s hair is just as bad, Bruce Buffer’s in the shark suit either way. Nothing changes for me. The rules are the same, the rounds are the same, and my life is the exact same. My money’s the same, I wear the same t-shirt, I’ve got the same cornermen, and they can call it a title fight, they can call it a main event, they can call it an undercard – my life is no different. When that same music hits those speakers, I’ll make that same walk, put that same mouthpiece in, and do everything I can to win, regardless of what’s riding on it.”

Oh yeah, the man is back, and it’s a welcome return, not just because he’s one of the top 185-pound fighters on the planet and the lone man to push champion Anderson Silva to the brink of defeat, but because he’s one of MMA’s most intriguing figures. No one sees the game through the looking glass quite like the self-proclaimed “Gangster from West Linn,” and watching his every move has been compelling viewing for a few years now. But only before his bout with Silva in August of 2010 did the rest of the world catch up.

“I’m not doing anything different,” he said. “The media has found me, I didn’t come find them. I didn’t create a persona or sit around and come up with things to say. I don’t have any idea what you’re gonna ask me, or the next guy or any of the fans at a Q&A. I’m just up there with a microphone and doing my level best. But I haven’t changed anything; they’ve just come to me. I was the top draw when I was with Bodog, I was the top draw when I was with the IFL, and I was the top draw when I was in the WEC, and for all these same reasons. They just didn’t have the platform that Zuffa has. So I’m not doing anything different.”

In his second stint with the UFC, Sonnen has pulled off the rare trick of being a must-see athlete in and out of the Octagon. From his trio of wins over Dan Miller, Yushin Okami, and Nate Marquardt, to his stellar effort against Silva and his incendiary comments about anyone and everyone in the fight game, if you don’t know who the 34-year old Oregonian is yet, you just haven’t been around the MMA world.

Yet after a suspension by the California State Athletic Commission following the Silva fight for having elevated levels of testosterone (a result explained by his being diagnosed with hypogonadism, a condition which requires synthetic testosterone injections), and a plea bargain in a mortgage fraud case, many questioned whether he would ever fight again.

Sonnen wasn’t one of that crowd.

“No,” he quipped when asked if he ever thought that he had fought his last fight. “They can do all they want, but you can’t keep a good man down.”

It was a trying time to say the least though, as he spent more time in a suit defending himself than in his gym clothes preparing for a fight. You could say that he needed the break after a pretty hectic fight schedule over the last couple years. Again, he wouldn’t agree.

“I didn’t need any breaks, I never need a break,” said Sonnen. “You only do this three times a year anyway. It’s like you’ve got all these crybabies out there talking about ‘my wife really wants me around more.’ What a ridiculous statement. What do you mean ‘around more?’ It’s three hours a day and three weekends a year. There is no around more. You couldn’t possibly be around more. So no, I definitely don’t need a break from three hours a day and three weekends a year. I was just the opposite. I was like a good cowboy that just wants to jump back on the horse.”

So when he was greenlighted to resume his career and given a fight with the streaking Stann, who has finished all three of his fights at 185 pounds, Sonnen was ecstatic to get back to his form of normal.

“I like the whole process,” he said. “I don’t have any hobbies and I don’t have any friends, so all I have is practice. All I have is going in and training and looking forward to a date and a new challenge and stuff like that, and it was all gone – I didn’t have any of it. So I missed the whole process more than anything; I missed being one of the guys and having a goal and something to look forward to.”

You’d be surprised at how badly you can miss your routine when it’s taken away from you. For Sonnen, every minute away from the gym was another minute the rest of the pack was catching up. So going through the daily grind – even if it is only three hours a day – was like Christmas for him. Well, maybe not, but let’s just say getting the chance to do what he has done for much of his life again was a good thing.

“I don’t know if that (the routine) is the appeal, but it’s certainly the reality,” said Sonnen. “And it’s real important to keep that in mind. You’ll see so many fighters come off title fights and great performances, and in their next time out, they just look awful. You can’t get roped into any of that. I know I’m the best fighter in the world, I proved it in my last fight, and there’s nobody even close to me. The current champion isn’t even within a mile of my ability, but if I don’t do everything right, those abilities are gone overnight. The one time I quit caring about my run, the one time I quit hitting the steps, the one time I let the diet go, I’m the best, but I’m only the best by an inch. And I can go from the top of the pack to the back of it overnight. Guys do it all the time. We just saw a Hall of Famer (Matt Hughes) get destroyed in the first round by a guy with bleached hair (Josh Koscheck). Even the best guy – me – is only the best by a little bit, and you’ve got to make sure every single thing is in line every single time. That’s the hardest thing about our sport. There are so many elements and you can’t overlook any of them, and the one time you do, you gotta start all over.”

14 months is a long time in this game too, and it could be easy for many to forget August of 2010 and Sonnen’s brilliant performance against the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world in Silva. For nearly five rounds, Sonnen put on the best fight of his career and dominated Silva throughout.

“I expected more resistance everywhere from him,” said Sonnen of Silva. “From the grappling to his striking, his strategy, I just expected more resistance everywhere. So yeah, I was surprised at his lack of resistance.”

Like all great champions though, Silva had something left in his back pocket to pull out when he needed it most, and at 3:10 of the final round, a triangle armbar ended Sonnen’s night and, for the moment, his championship quest. If not for his suspension and legal issues, an immediate rematch might have been in the cards, but for now, it’s Stann.

“This is what it is,” said Sonnen. “Brian Stann is next, and that’s fine. Look, if I had won the championship, I’m not sure Brian Stann wasn’t next anyway. He’s certainly arguable. There’s several guys that can fill that spot, but he’s definitely one of them, so no, it doesn’t make a bit of difference to me.”

And the goal?

“There is no other goal than the championship.”

Since the bout, Silva has looked to be in better than ever form in knocking out Vitor Belfort and Okami, but obviously, the marquee bout for “The Spider” is a rematch with Sonnen should the Milwaukie native get by Sonnen. And Sonnen hasn’t let up with his verbal assault on the champion as we wait.

“He’s a punk and a bully, he really is, and now he’s out there trying to be me,” said Sonnen. “He’s doing everything he can to copy me. He’s wearing masks to weigh-ins and yelling at guys at press conferences, and doing everything he can do to be me. So good for him. It’s like Marshall Mathers once said: ‘they may walk like me, talk like me, dress, act, not give a dang like me, and they just might be the next best thing, but they’re not quite me.’”

Sonnen has even widened his trash talking range to encompass not just one Brazilian (Silva), but a whole bunch of them, including Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva, and the Nogueira brothers, among others. He makes no apologies though, and is far from shocked that fight fans have gravitated to him.

“People like respect and I’m the only respectful fighter in the whole sport,” he said. “A lot of other fighters have a real misunderstanding that lying and dishonesty is respectful. They love to bow to your face and stick a knife in your back the first chance they get. I don’t. I’ll tell you like it is to your face and then I’ll stick the knife in your back because I told you that if you turn around I’ll put a knife in your back. And that’s the difference with me. I’m honest and I’m respectful. And these guys love to say ‘Chael doesn’t have any respect.’ Well, check your dictionary at the local junior high that you flunked out of. I’m absolutely respectful and absolutely honest as well. You guys are a bunch of liars.”

“People hang on every word I say,” Sonnen continues. “People are always disappointed when I’m not talking. I do an MMA show on ESPN and they blow a fit when I’m not on there. People are throwing a protest right now online that the UFC put out their commercial for the next event and they show the two title fights and they didn’t show me and Stann. Of course people would be upset, and I don’t blame them – I’m upset too. I like hearing myself as well.”

There has been one fighter who has escaped Sonnen’s verbal wrath though, and it’s the man he’s fighting this Saturday. That’s not surprising considering that it’s almost impossible to dislike Stann. He’s also earned his place in the spotlight with his recent performances, which include knockouts of Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago. And when you hear Sonnen assess his foe, it’s clear that he has a healthy dose of respect for the “All-American.”

“He’s a tough guy in front of everything else,” said Sonnen of Stann. “He’s a real brute. He’s big and strong and he’s got a big heart, good cardio, and he can punch hard. I also think he kicks really well. He fought Santiago, who sucks, but he buckled him with a kick, and I’ve seen him use those big, powerful kicks to soften other guys up too. He used them well in the WEC back when he was kinda green. He was green in the WEC and he still won the title. So he’s absolutely a natural in there, but if I had to describe him in a word, it would probably be ‘brute.’ He’s that big, strong, tough guy that comes to fight.”

Sounds like the perfect dance partner for Sonnen’s return.

“It’s almost the opposite of the last guy I fought,” he said. “The last guy I fought was a little dancing chicken, and this guy’s more of a man that will come out and draw a line in the Octagon and say put your toe on it and let’s go.”

Admit it, you’ve missed Chael Sonnen. Well, now he’s back, and he doesn’t plan on leaving anytime soon.

“I don’t ever want to be done,” he said. “I’ll never quit this sport. I’ll never be done with this business, but at some point, this business will be done with me. I’ll be one of those last guys that hangs on past the time that he should. I like it, it’s what I want to do, I do it because I choose to do it, not because I have to do it, and there is no life after this. This is what I want to do with my life.”

Matt Erickson: Chael Sonnen Mellows Ahead of UFC 136, Still Says He's Better Than Anderson Silva

The last time we saw Chael Sonnen before a fight, calling him outspoken would have been a massive understatement.

Ahead of his UFC middleweight title fight against champion Anderson Silva at UFC 117 in August 2010, Sonnen was a whirlwind of controversial comments, outlandish outcries and, well, near lunacy.

Sonnen came closer than anyone before him in the UFC to stopping Silva, but his submission loss was followed by a suspension for elevated testosterone levels. And that was followed by a plea deal for money laundering in a mortgage fraud case. Is it possible that Sonnen has mellowed out?

Brian Stann, Sonnen's opponent at UFC 136 next Saturday in Houston, thinks it's a case of selective mellowing based on who Sonnen is fighting.

"I told everybody from the start I didn't think (the trash talk) was going to happen," Stann said Friday on a media call for the pay-per-view. "I said this a couple times. I believe Chael is very genuine when he says if he has a problem with somebody, he'll speak it. If he doesn't have a problem with somebody, he won't. You saw his fights against Nate Marquardt, Dan Miller and Yushin Okami, he didn't have anything to say about those guys. He spoke about the fight. So it wasn't surprising to me at all that didn't happen. And I wouldn't have taken it personally, anyway. I really think that our skill sets and the way that we fight has generated all the hype it needs."

When it comes to Stann, Sonnen (25-11-1, 4-4 UFC) has steered clear of any kind of trash talk. In fact, he'd actually prefer to not have to fight the war hero, who is on a three-fight winning streak. And he believes the same goes for the rest of the middleweight division.

"Nobody wants to fight Brian, but somebody's got to," Sonnen said. "Our paths have to cross. We're just in the same weight class, it's not that big of a pool and he keeps whipping everybody. If he quit beating everybody, I wouldn't have to fight him. But he decided to go out and become one of the top guys. I've done my part and put my time in and I'm up there too, so our paths have to cross."

With so much time off between fights, Sonnen said he's happy to be back on the job, but admitted there's no excitement that comes along with a task the likes of Stann (11-3, 5-2 UFC). It's possible the winner will get the next crack at Silva – a rematch for Sonnen, and the biggest fight of his career for Stann, the former WEC light heavyweight champion.

With Stann on a three-fight streak, all stoppages with a submission win over Mike Massenzio and convincing TKOs of Chris Leben and Jorge Santiago earlier this year, it's no wonder Sonnen won't use the word "excited" about his first fight in more than a year.

"I don't know that I ever look forward to (fighting)," Sonnen said. "I hear some guys say they're excited (to fight), and I always get jealous of those guys. I've never been excited to have to go fight another man. I'm not excited now. I'm happy to be part of it – I got put in timeout for a while, and I'm glad that's all over and behind me. But I go with a matter-of-fact approach – I'm not excited for the match. It's a bunch of emotions that get combined into one, and excitement isn't one of them."

A brasher Sonnen, circa Summer 2010, might have approached such a question differently. And it just might be possible that Sonnen's out-of-the-cage problems have him taking a different approach to how he portrays himself to the public. Possible.

"The happy part is, this is what I want to do and I got held out of it for a while," Sonnen said. "I've always been grateful for these opportunities, but I think I'm a little more grateful now. Appreciative would be a much stronger feeling that I'm having – to make up for the excitement."

Sonnen has even relaxed his stance on Silva – though make no mistake, a win over Stann and a possible rematch with his old nemesis would likely see him return to the Sonnen of old.

Sonnen said Silva has to be respected – but he still believes he's better than the champion, who beat Yushin Okami last month, whom Sonnen helped train for the title fight.

"It's getting harder and harder to deny he should be shown that appreciation," Sonnen said. "He ducked Okami for years, but he did finally get in there and he made it look easy. So I think you've got to look at that. If you're asking if I'd ever concede that Anderson's better than me, no. I would refer you to the tape (of our fight). I think he and I are vastly different and that I could come down a lot and still be ahead of him. I also think he ducks and dodges opponents constantly, but his wins and losses speak for themselves. The fact of the matter, whether I like to admit this or not, is he's done a better job than anybody, done a better job than me, and he is the champion.

"It doesn't mean I'm going to quit poking my finger in his chest, but at some point I think fairness needs to kick in, too, and you need to look at what he's done and tip your hat to him a little bit."

What Sonnen hopes for more than anything is a win over Stann, and a chance to let that finger poking start up once again.

Sonnen and Stann fight on the main card of UFC 136 on Oct. 8 at the Toyota Center in Houston. The main card is headlined by a pair of title fights – the lightweight title rematch between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard, and a featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Kenny Florian.

Chael Sonnen: I can't remember the last time Anderson Silva wasn't hurt for a match

"I don't think that treatment for Anderson's problems is prohibited by the UFC, even right before a match. Some medications are limited, as you know, but Anderson is in a state of medical legitimacy because I don't think that Midol is prohibited, nor are chocolate or Gerard Butler movies. I have never personally had to deal with his sort of condition, but I feel for him and I really want to see what his top fighting form actually is, since we apparently haven't seen it yet. I can't remember the last time that he didn't say he was hurt for a match, and it's starting to alienate the fight fans. So he should take care of himself when he's suffering, or else the public will be stuck with the same unengaging fights and lackluster victories until he either dies or finally hits menopause." - PaulLazenby.com via (MMAMania.com)

UFC Middleweight Champion Chael Sonnen unleashes another verbal attack on Anderson Silva, who is becoming well-known for showing up injured for his UFC Middleweight title defenses. As for Sonnen, The Oregonian will defend his title for the first time against Brian Stann, in just two-weeks time at UFC 139. Sonnen sets his sights with on getting a rematch with Anderson Silva as part of his quest to becoming the first UFC fighter to hold two titles in same division simultaneously. UFC 136 will take place on October 8 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas.

Vitor Belfort calls out Chael Sonnen, Sonnen offers reply

By now we all know that Chael Sonnen has a, shall we say, special relationship with many Brazilian fighters.

If, by chance, you are unfamiliar with Sonnen’s interaction with these Brazilian fighters, the short story is he likes to take verbal shots at many of the countries biggest stars. Anderson Silva, Wanderlei Silva, Antonio Silva, the Nogueira brothers, and Jose Aldo have all heard from the acerbic Mr. Sonnen in the recent past.

One fighter that has maybe heard enough from Sonnen is Vitor Belfort, who recently spoke to Tatame and offered the following:

“I hope I can fight him. Let’s get this trashtalker… I think it’s the perfect timing, he’s a good opponent and it’s a fight that everybody wants to see. Even if Anderson (Silva) wants that fight, I believe he (Anderson) would give me this fight as a gift. I really want to fight him. If he wants to fight Anderson, I’d be a great test for him.” Belfort then added, “I’d pound him out… Let’s hope he wins this fight and the UFC puts him against me. That’s the fight everybody wants to see.”- see Tatame.com for the complete interview.

Belfort was recently forced from UFC 139 with an injury. He was scheduled to face Cung Le on that fight card, but will be replaced by Wanderlei Silva. For his part, Sonnen will face Brian Stann at UFC 136. Belfort is expected to be back in action sometime in December.

Sonnen did respond to Belfort’s words via Twitter:


Hey Vitor, take my name out of your mouth until you show up for half as many fights as you pullout of.


The fight everyone WANTS to see is two good fighters vs each other. That rules out you, and everybody you have beat since '05.

Chael Sonnen says he'll pass on a title shot to fight Anderson Silva

"Dana [White] and I are at a crossroads. Dana wants this to be a number one contender’s match and wants me to fight for the championship. I don’t have anything against fighting my friend Yushin Okami, who will be the champion by then, but I have unfinished business with Anderson Silva. For me, what I am lobbying for, is win or lose, I will fight Anderson Silva next. Anderson will be working his way back up, or I should say working his way down. I’m going to grab him and beat him up anyway, just for laughs, just on principle. Just for my sheer entertainment, I’m going to go slap that guy around. I don’t need his little tin belt. I’m already the champion. - For more from Chael Sonnen, visit Sherdog.com (via MMAMania.com)

While most competitors step inside the octagon with hopes of one day wearing UFC gold, it appears Chael Sonnen isn't one of them. In fact, the self-proclaimed Middleweight champ insists that, if successful against Brian Stann at UFC 136, he'd be willing to forego a title shot in favor of a rematch with Anderson Silva. Of course, its an issue that only exists if "The Spider" is dethroned by Yushin Okami at UFC 134 in Brazil. So what do you think LowKick'ers? Is Silva vs. Sonnen II on the horizon? And if so, will it be for the 185-pound strap?

Further Reading: Chael Sonnen won't be at his best against Brian Stann


Photo: Chael Sonnen, right, fights Yushin Okami at UFC 104 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on October 24, 2009. Francis Specker

Chael Sonnen won't be at his best against Brian Stann, cites Ring Rust

When Chael Sonnen steps into the Octagon at UFC 136 he will have been away from the UFC for 14 months, the same amount of time that Rashad Evans spent away before defeating Tito Ortiz at UFC 133.

The concern of ring rust was on everyone’s mind when Evans stepped into the cage in Philadelphia, but after the fight ended Evans looked no worse for wear after earning the second round TKO win over Ortiz.

Sonnen recently spoke to ESPN’s MMA Live and addressed his time away from the Octagon. “I forgot what it’s like. I forgot what it’s like to be sore every day and tired every day and living life uncomfortable due to the training regiment.” Sonnen later added,” You push as hard as you can, but look, ring rust is a real thing. It’s going to be a step back. I won’t be at my best on that night, and I’m not gonna lie to myself and make believe that I will be.”

The question here LowKick'ers is, is Sonnen really going to be rusty or are the statements gamesmanship?

Further Reading: Anderson Silva's toughest tests in the UFC