UFC
UFC 117 PREVIEW: Chael Sonnen continues to win war of words as Anderson Silva shrugs off pre-fight talk
Jul 28, 2010 - 6:30:22 PM UFC 117 PREVIEW: Chael Sonnen continues to win war of words as Anderson Silva shrugs off pre-fight talk

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Chael Sonnen's war of words with Anderson Silva heading into their UFC 117 bout continues to be a one-sided assault. While Sonnen continues to spout off with every question asked of him, Silva is content to do his talking in the cage.

"Sonnen's the one that feels he needs to promote the fight," Silva said through his manager and translator Ed Soares on a UFC 117 teleconference this week. "The way he's promoting the fight is not the same way that I choose to promote the fight.

"People aren't paying to watch people talk s*** back and forth, people are paying to watch people fight."

Of course, while that was about as much as anyone was going to get out of the Champion, it's no surprise that Sonnen sees things completely opposite.

"He truly thinks people are tuning in to see a fight and not see anything else. He really means that," Sonnen said of Silva. "He feels he's taking the moral high ground. He couldn't be more wrong. Does he know anything about business? Has this guy ever done anything? That's not what they want to see. They're not just tuning into a fight; they want to know why they're fighting. He comes on here saying something stupid and thinks he's making a Noble Prize-winning statement. He couldn't have this industry more backwards. It's shocking that he actually believes it and stands there with his chest out, like we should pat him on the back, 'Good job Anderson. You're training really hard.'

"Well, guess what, dummy? I've been training really hard since I was nine years old, and I still have time to bring interest to people seeing me whip your ass on August 7."

Anderson's retort was short once again. "I don't have much to say because there's not much to say about this," he responded. "Chael's talking a lot of s*** and it's just not my choice to talk s*** before a fight"

Sonnen explained earlier in the call the difference between the two fighters and their positions in the UFC.

"I'm a partner with the UFC, Anderson's an employee. I give coherent answers, he sits on a speaker phone in a car somewhere and says 'yes' or 'no,'" Sonnen said.

"Of course I'm promoting this fight myself," he continued later. "I'm shocked by people asking him questions here, nobody wants to hear what he's got to say... I'm the one people want to see, I'm the one they're paying to see and I don't understand why he's even here."

Sonnen says he's counting on his toughness and determination to get past Silva come August 7, but he remains confident that he'll be the man to unseat "The Spider."

"I'm the toughest guy in the company period," said Sonnen. "There's never been a guy with earrings that can out-tough me, and he's not going to be the first... You've got to understand, I can go drag Anderson out of the hotel and beat him up anytime I want, but I've made a commitment to do it August 7."

"He's a scary fighter, there's not a lot of guys that you can say that about that are just flat out scary... he's going to hurt me very badly on August 7. I'm confident that I can fight through the pain, go to the hospital and get it taken care of after the fight and still come out with the Championship belt."

The challenger contends that his comments are no slight against Silva's abilities as a fighter. He went out of his way multiple times during the call to compliment Silva as a fighter, but he has a clear message and clear goal heading into UFC 117.

"I just don't like him... I'm going to take his belt on August 7 and Dana's going to fire him on August 8."

UFC 117 will air live on pay-per-view from the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. on August 7.