UFC 148 - Chael "Sunshine" Sonnen!

UPDATE: Ed Soares Comments and Interviews on Chael Sonnen's Trash Talking!

http://www.sherdog.com/news/news/Ed-Soares-Chael-Sonnens-a-Good-Guy-But-He-Crossed-the-Line-44085

Let me start by saying I have a great deal of respect for Mixed Martial Arts and all fighting styles.  I also have a great deal of respect for the men and women athletes who compete in specific disciplines and in mixed disciplines.  I don't have any respect for condescending loudmouths who put other competitors down to hype themselves up.  Don't get me wrong, I have opinions and I'm passionate about specific athletes. I'm outspoken about how I feel, my opinion and the such.

This brings me to UFC 148.  UFC 148 is all about Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva.  Plain and simple.  Not to downplay the other fights and fighters, but Sonnen and Silva are bringing the audience. It's no secret the that this is a grudge match.  It's personal and it's obvious.  What I'm not going to do is breakdown the fight.  I simply want to comment on Chael Sonnen and his media presence leading up to this huge fight card.

To be frank, Chael Sonnen's comments and pre-fight interviews just piss me off.  Sonnen is pretty clear about his feelings on Brazilians and Anderson Silva.  It's one thing to dislike Silva, his style, his record or his training camp.  It's another thing voice your personal dislike of a country, an ethnicity and culture.  His comment about his childhood and talking about new technology, medicine and American ingenuity while Anderson Silva and the Brazilians were playing in the mud sounds more racially charged than MMA related.

So in Sonnen's eyes, he was the rich, privileged white kid and Silva was a poor, underprivileged Brazilian kid. As adults, both compete in the UFC.  Silva is the UFC Middleweight champion with 14 consecutive wins and 9 title defenses. Sonnen, we'll he's not.  So let's asses net worth as it pertains to their fighting careers.  After all, they are both athletes in the same sport, in the same organization and fighting for the same belt.  Chael Sonnen, 27 wins, 8 losses, and 1 draw.  Of Sonnen's 11 losses 8 of them via submission.  Triangle chokes, armbars, you know that Brazilian JiuJitsu stuff.  No belts, not titles.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Chael-Sonnen-4112

Anderson Silva, 31 wins and 4 losses.  Two of Silva's losses came via submission.  Silva is the longest standing belt holder in UFC history.  He has the most title defenses in UFC history.  Depending on who you ask, he is rated the pound-for-pound best fighter in the world.  He's already submitted Sonnen once and he is the current belt holder.

http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/Anderson-Silva-1356


Fact of the matter is that when put to the same test, in the same arena, with the same resources, Anderson Silva is the best in the world and Chael Sonnen is second. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that childhood discussions about technology, medicine and American ingenuity don't help you in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  In fact, based on the data you're better off playing in the mud.  If you want to be a world champion middleweight mixed martial arts fighter anyway.

http://www.fightmatrix.com/mma-ranks/middleweight/

In conclusion, trash talking your opponents upbringing won't help you fight better.  In fact, from what I've read you're better off growing up "Brazilian" in the fight world.  I see Sonnen's position, as he expresses it in open discussion, to be ignorant.

My opinion is that Sonnen should have a greater respect for Brazil and especially Brazilian JiuJitsu.  Over 70% of Sonnen's MMA carrer losses came by submission  It's a Brazilian that has the very thing he desires most.  It's Anderson Silva who has what Chael Sonnen "would trade everything he's got" for.  Respect the game.  Respect Brazil.  Respect Brazilian JiuJitsu.  Especially when the Brazilian kids playing in the mud are the founders of the very style that has kept you from wearing the belt.  Gracie JiuJitsu helped pave the way for UFC and without BJJ UFC very well may not exist.  It was Royce Gracie's overall tournament win in UFC 1 that set the wheels in motion for MMA as we know it.

Even if Sonnen were to defeat Anderson Silva, he earns only the belt.  I don't see Chael Sonnen with 14 consecutive wins and 9 title defenses.  Don't get me wrong, Sonnen is an accomplished mixed martial artist ranked number two in the world.  In personality, I think he ranks a touch lower than that.  That's just my opinion.