UFC
UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva rips Yushin Okami for training with a "loser" in Chael Sonnen
May 31, 2011 - 2:30:28 PM UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva rips Yushin Okami for training with a "loser" in Chael Sonnen

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

#1 contender to the UFC Middleweight Championship Yushin Okami has been training with former opponent Chael Sonnen for his upcoming title bout with Anderson Silva, and his choice of training partners has drawn some harsh criticism from the Champion.

In an interview this weekend with O Globo, Silva had some choice words for Silva, and laid down some comments towards Sonnen as well.

"You have to find the best people to train with, and I think [Okami] chose wrong," Silva said (translated by Sherdog.com). "I'd never align myself with a loser, a loser in every sense. He didn't win the fight [between us] and got caught doping... and is suspended from the UFC."

"You want to be a champion? Get with good people, with winners. Moreover, Sonnen wasn't a tough opponent for me. I was injured with cracked ribs and fought five rounds. If I hadn't been injured, the fight would have been different."

Sonnen's current predicament has gotten much attention over the last month, but Okami has been working with him for a short while now after losing a fight to him in 2009. Whether that turns out to have been a smart move or not will be determined by his results on August 27 when he and Silva meet at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Penick's Analysis: It's not often that Silva lashes makes comments like this, and these are especially harsh towards Sonnen. That said, considering the things Sonnen said before and after the fight about Silva and his trainers and mentors, it's not an unwarranted attack back at him. With the things Sonnen has said and done, and with the trouble he's gotten himself into with the commissions, it's given Silva ammunition to fire back, and he's used it. Okami went to work with Sonnen after losing to him, and he feels it has benefited him, but when it comes down to it he'll be alone in the cage on August 27 against Silva, so it's up to him to prove Silva wrong.