Sonnen wants title shot in different weight class
Posted December 23, 2011 2:53 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Chael Sonnen says he is finished with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and wants a title shot in a different weight class.
Sonnen is slated to meet Mark (The Filipino Wrecking Machine) Munoz on Jan. 28 in Chicago in a bout expected to determine who takes on the 36-year-old Silva for the 185-pound title next.
Sonnen (27-11-1) has slagged Silva at every opportunity in recent times, even offering to retire from the sport if he lost to him again.
But Sonnen said in a recent interview that he has moved on from Silva and has his sights set on another title.
“The bottom line is, I’m done with the guy,” the 34-year-old Sonnen said in an excerpt. “He and I have no business… . He’s so far over the hill and past his prime it’s not worth talking about.
“I’m going to become the No. 1 contender on January 28th, but despite what you may think, I am not going to use that voucher to fight Anderson Silva. I’ll be looking at Dos Santos, Jones and possibly St-Pierre.
“I will take that voucher to (UFC president) Dana White and I will pick one of those guys. My time with Anderson is done.”
Junior Dos Santos is the current UFC heavyweight champion while Jon (Bones) Jones holds the light-heavyweight (205-pound) title and Montreal’s Georges St-Pierre has the welterweight (170-pound) championship belt.
Sonnen was defeated by Silva at UFC 117 in August 2010, when he dominated the champion for four rounds only to fall victim to a triangle choke in the fifth.
NOTES — Matt (The Immortal) Brown will take on Chris Cope while Justin Edwards faces Mike Stumpf in a pair of welterweight bouts announced for UFC 143 on Feb. 4 in Las Vegas.
