3. Chael Sonnen Vs. Wanderlei Silva UFC 173/TUF:Brazil Finale/175
Chael Sonnen has a reputation for being one of the sports finest trash talkers. Combining his undeniable intelligence with his biting tongue, Chael has shown us time and time again that he knows how to get the bout he wants and how to sell the fight once its booked. One day, while on a drive somewhere with Wanderlei Silva, Sonnen made the mistake of refusing to apologise for disparaging remarks hed made about Brazil in the build up to his rematch with Anderson Silva. From that point onwards the two have never seen eye to eye. With talks of this fight taking place for over a year now, it was unclear if it would ever actually happen. Now we know it wont but it was fun to imagine the peoples champions of Brazil and the United States clashing in the Octagon. First scheduled to co-main event UFC 173, the fight has been surrounded by controversies. It all started with Wanderlei apparent refusal to sign to fight Sonnen. He then made a video explaining how he wanted to fight Sonnen, but in a five round fight so he had more time to inflict pain on The American Gangster. A second video was then released of Wanderlei confronting Chael at the Mr Olympia convention, with the two having to be separated by lightweight champion Anthony Pettis among others. This Mr Olympia altercation was the final straw and the UFC decided to cash in on the rivalry by booking the pair as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 with a fight scheduled for after the shows finale. Finally, after over 6-months of fight-hype, the bout between the two was booked for the UFC 173 co-main event. Now as you should know that event happened a week ago and the two werent in the Octagon. Just 11-days after announcing the bout, it was then moved to The Ultimate Fighter Brazil Finale (that happened two nights and guess what they didnt fight). Fast forward two months and the fight had been moved yet again to UFC 175 and thats where it stayed until very recently when Wanderlei withdrew from the fight. There is a lot of speculation about why he backed down and the actual truth is yet to be reveal. Dana White has implied that The Axe Murderer failed to complete a random drugs test, though Wanderlei has denied this. The ongoing series of disappointments that this fight has come to represent has certainly hurt the UFC. A whole series of TUF was devoted to marketing the rivalry of Chael and Wanderlei and now after repeated date changes the fight isnt even happening. Thankfully every cloud has a silver lining; this ones comes in the form of Vitor Belfort who has stepped up to replace his fellow Brazilian. This promises to be an enjoyable fight but cannot fully remedy our disappointment that we will likely never see Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen test their mettle against one another in the cage.
Hailing from South East London, Sam Heard is an aspiring writer and recent graduate from the University of Warwick. Sam's favourite things include energy drinks, late nights spent watching the UFC with his girlfriend and annihilating his friends at FIFA.
Chael Sonnen has a reputation for being one of the sports finest trash talkers. Combining his undeniable intelligence with his biting tongue, Chael has shown us time and time again that he knows how to get the bout he wants and how to sell the fight once its booked. One day, while on a drive somewhere with Wanderlei Silva, Sonnen made the mistake of refusing to apologise for disparaging remarks hed made about Brazil in the build up to his rematch with Anderson Silva. From that point onwards the two have never seen eye to eye. With talks of this fight taking place for over a year now, it was unclear if it would ever actually happen. Now we know it wont but it was fun to imagine the peoples champions of Brazil and the United States clashing in the Octagon. First scheduled to co-main event UFC 173, the fight has been surrounded by controversies. It all started with Wanderlei apparent refusal to sign to fight Sonnen. He then made a video explaining how he wanted to fight Sonnen, but in a five round fight so he had more time to inflict pain on The American Gangster. A second video was then released of Wanderlei confronting Chael at the Mr Olympia convention, with the two having to be separated by lightweight champion Anthony Pettis among others. This Mr Olympia altercation was the final straw and the UFC decided to cash in on the rivalry by booking the pair as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 with a fight scheduled for after the shows finale. Finally, after over 6-months of fight-hype, the bout between the two was booked for the UFC 173 co-main event. Now as you should know that event happened a week ago and the two werent in the Octagon. Just 11-days after announcing the bout, it was then moved to The Ultimate Fighter Brazil Finale (that happened two nights and guess what they didnt fight). Fast forward two months and the fight had been moved yet again to UFC 175 and thats where it stayed until very recently when Wanderlei withdrew from the fight. There is a lot of speculation about why he backed down and the actual truth is yet to be reveal. Dana White has implied that The Axe Murderer failed to complete a random drugs test, though Wanderlei has denied this. 