Chael Sonnen aims to 'rebuild his life' against UFC rival Anderson Silva

Chael Sonnen has one final chance to beat old rival Anderson Silva.

Considered one of the greatest rivalries in MMA history, Sonnen and Silva have met twice in the Octagon, with Silva defending the UFC middleweight title both times, and after nearly losing the belt in their first bout in 2010, Sonnen handily defeated him via TKO in 2012. Now, 12 years later, they will meet again in the boxing ring.

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Sonnen, 47, will come out of retirement to make his boxing debut this Saturday in an exhibition bout against “The Spider” at Spaten Fight Night in Sao Paulo, Brazil, while Silva, 49, will return to the ring cheered on by his home crowd after a unanimous decision loss to Jake Paul in 2022.

At UFC 117, Sonnen was on the brink of becoming world champion and was dominating Silva round after round until Silva completed a historic comeback by submitting Sonnen with a triangle choke with two minutes left in the final round. Sonnen is still haunted by the memory and will likely get another chance to exact sweet revenge on Silva in the boxing ring.

“They like to say we made up,” Sonnen said of his relationship with Silva on “Good Guy/Bad Guy.” “They love to use the word 'respect,' and I live by that. I think it's the gentlemanly thing to do…” [But] I'm going to go and hurt him. That's what I agreed to. I'm going to put my body on the line because he asked me to. He could have taken on anyone he wanted. Apparently he still wants to hurt me. So it would be disingenuous to act like it's all over.”

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Sonnen and Silva are both energetic outside the ring, but come fight day they'll flip the metaphorical kill switch. Boxing rules, timing and even the location of the bout may be much more to Sonnen's advantage following his recent return, but the former UFC title challenger is making no excuses before stepping into enemy territory with Silva.

For Sonnen, already down 2-0 against Silva and looking to write the ultimate revenge story, this is a life-or-death fight.

“If I lose, I will be devastated. My chances will be gone. I have thought about this guy every day for 10 years. It's a very private thing. I'm not coming at this as saying, 'boxing is not my style'. I am going to fight to beat this guy and rebuild my life. [the] I will look at my career for the rest of my life as a miserable failure.”

“I'm going to try and use this fight to turn my life around,” Sonnen added.

Chael Sonnen is a heavy underdog at +325 against Anderson Silva (-500). Silva has five boxing bouts, including a win over heavyweight Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in 2021. Sonnen hasn't fought since a stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida in 2019.

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