Anderson (left) and Sonnen (right) faced each other twice. Photo: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Chael Sonnen, one of the fiercest rivals of his entire career Anderson Silva, admitted that the Brazilian's recent trajectory serves as an inspiration. The North American highlighted the efforts of the former champion, who, next Saturday (31), will return to the UFC Octagon one year and one month after suffering a serious leg fracture during a fight.
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Anderson will face Nick Diaz in the main fight of UFC 183, which will be held in Las Vegas (USA). The fight will take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, exactly the same gym where “Spider” injured his leg in front of Chris Weidmanin December 2013.
In his podcast, “You're Welcome!”, Sonnen praised Anderson's determination to return to the octagon, even though he is already recognized as one of the greats in the history of the sport. “This is inspiring. It's really inspiring when a guy comes back. People ask me a lot of questions about Anderson Silva. The truth is that I don't know him very well, so I'm not very good at giving an opinion, but I can say that I'm still inspired by the things he's doing. He has already achieved everything, he is a successful guy in both sporting and financial aspects. It's inspiring to see him come back after an injury, at the age he is. I don’t know what will happen in the fight, but regardless of the result, this is a really cool story,” he highlighted.
Sonnen, who gained notoriety for making several provocations against Anderson, challenged the former champion on two occasions. In the first of them, in August 2010, he came close to stealing the belt from the Brazilian, but ended up submitting in the final moments of the fifth round. Two years later the rematch came, and Sonnen ended up losing by technical knockout in the second round.
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