https://youtube.com/watch?v=drio3nJov9Q
With UFC Tonight moving to Fox Sports 1 in August when the new network launches, expect analyst Chael Sonnen to be a huge part of the show going forward. Sonnen recently challenged MMA legend Wanderlei Silva for a fight in the future (likely on the FS1 debut show in August), and honestly, the fight makes sense for both men.
Silva didn't respond to Sonnen's 24 hour challenge last week, and Sonnen considered the matter dead…until UFC Tonight last night, when Ariel Helwani read comments from Silva. The initial comments were the usual non-committal remarks you hear leading into an unconfirmed fight, but then Silva ramped up his attacks on Sonnen.
"Jon Jones and Anderson [Silva] have been too nice to Chael. I want to suck his blood. I want to smell it. Not just fight. Not just fight. I want to hurt him.
[…]
Chael is a joke, man. He's going to be second forever. He is never going to be first."
Well then. Of course, Sonnen had to respond considering that Silva made vampire-level comments about him, and he did it in his usual fashion of toeing the line between being a showman and being offensive.
"I think the real breaking news there is that Wanderlei Silva put together a coherent sentence that somebody understood. But I can assure you Wanderlei, I will not be signing a contract for you to suck on any part of me. I suggest you go to a bath and find yourself."
At the very least, Sonnen is doing an awesome job at hyping up a fight that hasn't even been signed yet. Could you imagine if Fox Sports 1 had this vicious war of words leading into the main event of their first UFC card on the evening of their launch? Playing these soundbites over and over again would definitely do a lot more to draw in viewers than advertising a title fight between guys that casual fans couldn't pick out of a lineup. Sonnen's showmanship might be getting a little old, but in this situation, it's completely warranted.
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