Anderson Silva said Monday he’s going to break “every one” of Chael Sonnen’s teeth when the two meet at next month’s UFC 148.
Speaking on a pre-fight conference call for the headliner of the July 7 show in Las Vegas, Silva was clearly fired up for the middleweight title rematch two years in the making with the vocal Sonnen.
On this day, it was the longtime champion who was the one doing most of the talking, and The Spider was spitting out vitriol that was usually typical of the challenger.
“First of all, Chael is a criminal, he’s been convicted of crimes,” Silva said, referring to the fact that Sonnen was found guilty in a case involving his role as a realtor. “He doesn’t deserve to be inside the Octagon. But when the time comes, I’m going to break his face, and break every one of his teeth in his mouth.”
Silva was only getting started.
“I’m going to beat his ass out of the UFC. He’s never going to fight again after I’m done with him,” Silva continued. “What I do against him will be something that’s going to change the image of this sport. His arms will be broken, his legs will be broken, he’s not going to be able to walk out of the Octagon by himself, I guarantee you. I know he’s listening, the games are over.”
The two first met at UFC 117 in August 2010, where Silva submitted Sonnen midway through the fifth round of a fight that had been dominated by the challenger up until that point.
“He’s going to leave a loser like last time, only this time he’ll have to see a plastic surgeon afterward,” Silva added.
The bad blood between the two stems from comments made by Sonnen since their first fight, taking shots at Silva’s manhood, his native country and Brazilian fans. Clearly Silva felt he went too far.
“He didn’t affect me personally, I’m just going to make him pay and eat his words for everything he said about me and my country and any other fighter. He should have never disrespected Brazil. I’m going to beat him maybe the way his parents should have beaten him to teach him some manners.”
UFC president Dana White, who was also on the conference call, said of all the rivalries he’s seen in the organization, including the one between Quinton (Rampage) Jackson and Rashad Evans, this one might take the cake because of the way it’s made a guy like Silva who is normally very quiet and respectful say the things he was saying Monday.
“This one is so crazy,” White said. “I’ve promoted so many of Anderson’s fights (over the years), but I’ve never heard him talk like this before.”
It was quite reminiscent of what White said in October about UFC welterweight title-holder Georges St-Pierre, who was so angered by comments made by Nick Diaz after defeating B.J. Penn at UFC 137 when he suggested the champ wasn’t really injured and just ducking him. At that post-fight press conference, White said he had never seen St-Pierre so upset to the point that he asked to fight Diaz instead of then-No. 1 contender Carlos Condit, and the UFC obliged.
According to White, St-Pierre said of Diaz, “He’s the most disrespectful human being I’ve ever met, and I’m going to put the worst beating you’ve ever seen on him in the UFC.”
Clearly feeling that Sonnen is worthy of that tag as “most disrespectful human being,” Silva’s words Monday were very similar: “It doesn’t matter if I’m on the bottom, top, side (in our rematch), I’m going to beat him like nobody’s ever been beaten before.”
Ironically, Sonnen was the one with few words on Monday, saying in response to Silva’s comments: “I’ve got two words for him: ‘Medium rare.'”
