Joe Silva works in mysterious ways. Just when we thought the Chael Sonnen vs Brazil saga was going to continue in the Octagon against Lyoto Machida or Wanderlei Silva, the UFC matchmaker swoops in and drops the American hero Brian Stann in front of ultra right winger and one time Oregon house nominee Chael Sonnen. Will there even be trash talk in this fight? Heavy MMA sat down with Chael to find out the answer to that very question
“It’s a lot harder fight than I thought I was going to have. I didn’t think I was going to have the #6 guy in the world right out of the gate.”
“I was trying to get an easy one. I was trying to get Wanderlei or Anderson or “Bigfoot” or just some Silva in general would have been really nice. When I saw that that was starting to get less likely, I called out `The Karate Kid.’ They’ve thwarted my plans here, and now I’ve got to go and do a real match.
“That’s a really hard match, and that’s a really great guy. We have to meet up at some point; we’re ranked very close to each other. That fight is going to happen at some point whether I want to do it or not.”
“I wasn’t ready for a Brian Stann style fight; I was ready to take on a Wanderlei or a Machida or something like that. I’ll need to sit down and reevaluate and up the intensity, that’s for sure.
“He’s doing such a good job. Rewind to his match with Chris Leben. I really would have lost whatever they would let me bet; I would have lost it all. I thought Leben would beat him.
“I think Stann’s an awesome guy. I didn’t think he could get by Leben. Nobody has dominated Chris Leben like that — ever — in his entire career. That was kind of like an “Oh Wow” moment when I saw that in my living room. That was a special performance.
“Then they gave him a really easy fight after that, and he went out and did some more great things. Even an easy fight, you’ve still got to go do the fight, and he did. He’s really good.”
On no Stann fight trash talk
“I wouldn’t count on that.”
Jeff Monson will watch this match with great interest.
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