Chael Sonnen har sagt det vid ett antal tillfällen – Anderson Silva vill inte möte honom. Många har antagit att det endast varit hype-snack från hans sida, men UFCs VD Dana White har nu bekräftat att det uttalandet ändå varit sant.
”When we did the press conference down in Brazil, Silva hadn’t even agreed to fight him,” säger White till MMAJunkie. ”That fight wasn’t happening. I had them bring Anderson to the place where the press conference was, and we sat in a room for three hours fighting about the fight. (Chael knew). He knew there was no fight. What he said was true, absolutely true. We went down there to make that fight. We set up a press conference, and I had to get it done.”
Det finns förvisso andra utmanare på titeln också, men det är Sonnen som varit den enda i UFC som ännu varit i närheten på att besegra Silva. Men om Silva hade sluppit att möta Sonnen så hade han antagligen tagit den chansen.
”(Silva wants to fight) anybody but Chael,” säger White. ”He thinks Chael is disrespectful and doesn’t deserve a shot at this title at all. So leading up to the press conference, it was delayed an hour because I was fighting with him in my room.”
”He’s pissed at us about that. He’s genuinely mad. And that’s part of the reason he flipped out on the call, because he wasn’t even going to get on the call. [UFCs PR-ansvariga] Caren Bell found out in Brazil that he wasn’t going to be on the call, and then I made the call and said, ’You better be on the call.’ And it led right up until (the call started).”
Men som tur för fansen så lyckades de ändå få till matchen. Nu på lördag är det slutligen dags för att bestämma vem mästaren i mellanvikten slutligen är. Det hela kommer att stå mellan Anderson Silva och Chael Sonnen.
”My philosophy is always, if you don’t like it, handle it in the octagon,” avslutar White. ”You can’t say a guy doesn’t deserve it because you think he’s mean. He definitely deserves the rematch. More than anybody. It’s true. He’s the only guy who’s ever come close to beating him in the UFC.”
