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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief Making his way back into the UFC fold next Saturday at UFC 95, Chael Sonnen is already making some bold claims. Speaking with Sergio Non at USAToday.com, Sonnen said "In my opinion, these are the two best guys fighting right now, me and Maia. I think whoever wins this fight is the best middleweight in the UFC. I think I'm better than Anderson and I think Demian's better than Anderson; I think we would both beat him."
He's got his own logical line of reasoning for the claim, as he continued later, "Anderson Silva has gone on record and said, 'I can't beat Paulo Filho.' Anderson's manager went on record saying he can't beat Paulo Filho. And Paulo Filho went on record as saying, 'Anderson can't beat me'... Everybody involved in that training camp said that Paulo beats him. I defeated Paulo Filho — that gives me a good argument."
Sonnen touches on much more in a good interview with Non, including the string of jiu-jitsu practitioners he's had to face, his infamous bout with Paulo Filho last November, his thoughts on Maia, as well as thoughts on other top 185 lb challengers Nate Marquardt and Wilson Gouveia, and finally his thought on Dan Henderson and Michael Bisping.
Penick's Analysis: Though his interview is a very good read, Sonnen's crazy if he actually believes his comments here on Anderson Silva. He backs off of it a bit later in the interview when asked specifically what he thinks his advantages are over the champ, as he said he only wants to focus on Maia at the moment, but it's still a bit of a far fetched claim. And sure, his logical reasoning would be sound if he had faced the top notch Paulo Filho back in November. The man he faced at that event could have been beaten by a docile house cat; there was obviously something very wrong with Filho that night and had he been the fighter in this comparison to Silva, Sonne would have dropped his second straight fight to the former WEC Middleweight Champion. Either way, if he gets past Maia, we could find out sooner rather than later, as it would make a good case for him trying to climb up the ladder to get a title shot. I'd give Marquardt a second shot at the belt if he gets past Gouveia on that same card, but Sonnen's name would be in contention if he beats Maia. Either way, until someone actually beats him in the Octagon, no middleweight can try to lay claim to being the best in the division over Anderson Silva.
[Silva Art Credit - Corey Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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