Sonnen puts focus back on fighting for Bisping
Count on Chael Sonnen to subvert expectations in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
He's ridiculed the jiu-jitsu skills of proven submission experts. Dismissed stars of Pride Fighting Championships as frauds. Described a former titleholder as a champion manufactured by UFC's marketing machine. Derided the most dominant UFC champion of all time as an effeminate coward.
Yet for this weekend's fight against middleweight Michael Bisping, Sonnen offers a different kind of verbal surprise: Respect.
"How you could ever deny Bisping?" Sonnen says. "I'm just not on that bandwagon. I plan to do everything I can do to stop him. But I'm not going to sit here and act as though the guy's not a great fighter. He is."
They'll square off Saturday in the co-main event of UFC on Fox 2 (8 p.m. ET, Fox) in Chicago. Zuffa promises the winner a UFC title fight against 185-pound champion Anderson Silva later this year.
Matchmakers have been trying to put together a rematch between Sonnen and Silva since their dramatic showdown in August 2010, when the champ pulled off a late submission after being dominated by the challenger for most of five rounds. But with a four-fight win streak and a No. 9 spot in the USA TODAY/MMA Nation consensus rankings for middleweights, Bisping has his own case to make for a title shot.
"Chael's widely regarded as probably No. 2 in the division," Bisping says. "People do say that I haven't been fighting the top guys. Well, here we are."
Bisping and Sonnen got only a fraction of the time they would normally dedicate to training for any particular fight, let alone a title eliminator. Sonnen's originally scheduled opponent, Mark Munoz, underwent elbow surgery less than two weeks before the Chicago show; UFC chose Bisping as a replacement.
With such a small window to get ready for each other, they have little time for promotional work outside of UFC's basic requirements and a few relatively mild verbal jabs at each other.
"The fight was only made a few days ago," Bisping says. "I've got to put all my energy into preparing for that fight."
He's ridiculed the jiu-jitsu skills of proven submission experts. Dismissed stars of Pride Fighting Championships as frauds. Described a former titleholder as a champion manufactured by UFC's marketing machine. Derided the most dominant UFC champion of all time as an effeminate coward.
Yet for this weekend's fight against middleweight Michael Bisping, Sonnen offers a different kind of verbal surprise: Respect.
"How you could ever deny Bisping?" Sonnen says. "I'm just not on that bandwagon. I plan to do everything I can do to stop him. But I'm not going to sit here and act as though the guy's not a great fighter. He is."
They'll square off Saturday in the co-main event of UFC on Fox 2 (8 p.m. ET, Fox) in Chicago. Zuffa promises the winner a UFC title fight against 185-pound champion Anderson Silva later this year.
Matchmakers have been trying to put together a rematch between Sonnen and Silva since their dramatic showdown in August 2010, when the champ pulled off a late submission after being dominated by the challenger for most of five rounds. But with a four-fight win streak and a No. 9 spot in the USA TODAY/MMA Nation consensus rankings for middleweights, Bisping has his own case to make for a title shot.
"Chael's widely regarded as probably No. 2 in the division," Bisping says. "People do say that I haven't been fighting the top guys. Well, here we are."
Bisping and Sonnen got only a fraction of the time they would normally dedicate to training for any particular fight, let alone a title eliminator. Sonnen's originally scheduled opponent, Mark Munoz, underwent elbow surgery less than two weeks before the Chicago show; UFC chose Bisping as a replacement.
With such a small window to get ready for each other, they have little time for promotional work outside of UFC's basic requirements and a few relatively mild verbal jabs at each other.
"The fight was only made a few days ago," Bisping says. "I've got to put all my energy into preparing for that fight."
