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[Leucoethiops]

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva's refusal to engage Demian Maia at Saturday's UFC 112 event left many MMA observers both shocked and appalled.

Top contender Chael Sonnen was not among them.

After hearing of Silva's in-cage antics during the night's main event, Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com he wasn't surprised. After all, according to the Team Quest fighter, "The Spider's" actions weren't exactly out of character.

"I wasn't surprised," Sonnen said. "It is par for the course."

Silva began the fight by taunting his opponent through the opening two rounds. With Maia unable to match the speed and precision striking offered by Silva, the champion was in complete control.

Some considered the actions over the line, but Sonnen actually defended his budding nemesis by professing that Silva often uses a bit of psychological warfare in the cage to bait his opponents into making a mistake.

"I don't find it unsportsmanlike, because I don't know why he's doing it," Sonnen said. "He could well be doing one of those antics to try to get his opponent to engage. But I have a hard time blaming him for that.

"I [saw] those antics against Forrest (Griffin); Forrest got baited into it and got knocked out for his efforts, so I don't blame [Silva] for doing that stuff, and I don't consider it unsportsmanlike because I don't know what's in his heart. Meaning to be a jerk, well, that's unsportsmanlike. When he doesn't mean to be a jerk, it's kind of hard to pin that on him."

Sonnen has yet to see the fight with his own eyes as he was busy in Reno, Nev., coaching 34 kids from his wrestling team at the World of Wrestling Championships. However, he was getting blow-by-blow updates from one of his friends back on Oregon, who filled him in on the details of Silva's odd behavior, his refusal to engage over the final three rounds, and the crowd's voracious boos.

Sonnen, by virtue of his February win over Nate Marquardt, may be next in line for Silva. The Oregonian said he'll check out today's action when he has a chance, but he doesn't anticipate his own plans changing based on what he sees.

"I'll watch the fight, but Silva's been in my crosshairs anyway, whether it's beating him for the belt or to win the belt and go beat him up after that." Sonnen said. "He's getting beaten up in 2010 by Chael Sonnen. That's been the story from the jump.

"There's people out there that need (to be) beaten up – he's one of them. And I have a moral obligation to society to beat him up."

And while Silva refused to touch his opponent's glove from the outset of today's disappointing UFC 112 finale, Sonnen says he couldn't care less. A fight's a fight, and Sonnen plans on backing up every claim he's already made – along with all those yet to come.

"[Silva] is a dirtbag anyway, whether he went out there and shook hands and was gracious or he didn't," Sonnen said. "Who cares? I don't know why sportsmanship needs to be involved, anyways. It's a fight – go do whatever you want.

"So, yes, I will do whatever I want. And when my music hits those speakers, I will make that walk and answer for my words."

Source

And Silva thought Maia was disrespectful...

Man... Sonnen fuckin' cracks me up.

[TheKidInside]

Sonnen is the fucking man! I used to hate on this dude but he got his shit together and is pretty damn entertaining now, inside and outside the cage.

[iced]

lolz......sonnen is a crazy dude. not sure how he will fair against silva, but he will sure get a lot of people stoked for the fight with his trash talking.

[TBEAR]

Chael needs to fight Vitor for the next title shot

While we watch Anderson at his HW debut MAY be Kongo. or Yvel

Anderson wont be around agianest Kongo or Yvel

[dan the man 67]

More power to Sonnen! I hope he gives Silva the beatdown.

I've become a big fan of Sonnen, especially after seeing what he did to Marquardt. He's got some mad takedown and GnP skills!

[Y2JUBAE]

Really wish it was Sonnen fighting anderson instead of maia...

I see now that Ed DOES in fact hand pick opponents for Anderson. Chael would have given him a lot harder time than maia did and I'm sure Ed knew that, which is why he made such a big stink about Chael not being deserving. Protect that gold son!

[KevoOnTheRadio]

Chael wasn't medically cleared to fight at UFC 112, he had that huge 'gina like cut on his forehead.

[wonderbee]

So the guy who said that Evan Tanner was the stupidest guy on earth and deserved to die is now everyone’s hero?

[Leucoethiops]

Originally Posted by wonderbee

So the guy who said that Evan Tanner was the stupidest guy on earth and deserved to die is now everyone’s hero?

The contexts I find, which are not from a reputable source cite Sonnen as saying...

Nobody who wants to live goes out into the desert without enough water, and without enough gas to get back. Tanner wanted to die. Either that, or he's the stupidest man on the planet. If he was really that stupid, it was only a matter of time anyway.

But I don't actually have a source or a link to the interview, so please don't consider this substantiated or credible.

[joeodd2]

Chael would fail miserably. The only upside to losing to Anderson Silva is that, "hey it was Anderson Silva!". So why not fight him? Chael knows that he would probably get knocked out and that all he could really do is hope for a lucky shot or hold him down for 3 rounds on the ground.