Anderson Silva is going to have a farewell fight against his old rival Chael Sonnen in Brazil on June 15th, and this time around it’s going to be a boxing match.
The fight will reportedly be contested over five two-minute rounds at a maximum weight of 216lbs.
Of course Silva and Sonnen had an infamous rivalry in the UFC at a time when ‘The Spider’ was still on a long-undefeated run as the UFC’s middleweight champion, and Sonnen was the larger-than-life motormouth and former WEC champ who trash-talked his way into a blockbuster showdown with the star at UFC 117 back in 2010.
Most people expected Sonnen to be all talk and no action in that fight, but he stunned the MMA world by giving Silva a torrid time for much of the fight, finding surprising success on the feet against the striking ace, while also managing to dominate him with his wrestling too.
By the fifth and final round when Sonnen landed yet another takedown it seemed like game-over for Silva’s long title-reign, but what followed was one of the most memorable moments in MMA history as mid-way through the round Silva suddenly found just enough space to lock in a triangle choke from his back, and added in an armbar for good measure to force Sonnen to tap-out and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
To add to Sonnen’s woes he then tested positive for elevated levels of testorone afterwards, leading to a suspension from the sport.
However, after returning from that suspension Sonnen went on to beat Brian Stann and Michael Bisping to earn another shot at Siva’s title two years after their first encounter.
Sonnen wasn’t able to repeat his prior performance in the rematch at UFC 148 however, with Silva schooling him in the striking department this time around, leading to a 2nd round TKO finish.
12 years later, Silva is now 49-years-old, but though he stopped competing in MMA in 2020 he didn’t hang up his gloves for good and instead turned his attention to boxing, finding initial success by earning a split-decision victory over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and then KO’ing Tito Ortiz in 82 seconds, before losing out by unanimous decision to Jake Paul in 2022.
As for the 47-year-old Sonnen, he left the UFC in 2013, but then re-emerged in the Bellator promotion in 2017, going 2-3 during that time, including decision wins over Wanderlei Silva and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson before retiring in 2019.
