Chil Sonnen knows greatness when he sees it.
With UFC 287 in the rearview mirror and Israel Adesanya once again at the helm of the UFC’s middleweight division, Sonnen has seen enough. He’s ready to anoint “The Last Stylebender” as the greatest middleweight ever to don a pair of four-ounce gloves.
Sonnen recently said: “I think it is.” MMA watch.
Adesanya, 33, regained his middleweight title at UFC 287, demolishing Alex Pereira with a second-round knockout to finally exact revenge on the man he previously defeated in three straight contests across kickboxing and mixed martial arts. Adesanya is now a two-time UFC champion and holds a 13-1 record in the UFC 185-pound division. He defended his belt five times in a row during his first title.
Of course, Adesanya’s main competition in the historic middleweight ranks is longtime UFC champion Anderson Silva. From his UFC debut in June 2006 to the end of his title run in 2013, “The Spider” racked up an octagonal 16-0 record with a plethora of notable ball finishes across two divisions and 10 consecutive title defenses, the latter of which he still has. The second-most string of championship defenses in UFC history, behind only Demetrius Johnson’s 11th successful defense of his UFC flyweight belt from 2012-17.
Two of Silva’s most memorable defenses came against Sonnen, as the two were fierce rivals and together created one of the most iconic rivalries in the history of the sport.
However, Sonnen still ranks Adesanya ahead of Silva from a historical perspective, if only because of the 2019 bout between the two middle-class teams, which saw the 29-year-old Adesanya defeat the 43-year-old Silva via unanimous decision at UFC 234.
“These guys fought, so this was a tough time for me,” Sonnen explained. “When two guys are fighting, and then you argue that the missing guy is better, and then you try to be smart with him and go, ‘Okay, but it wasn’t in their prime,’ it’s weird.
“There’s respect you have to pay the opponent, or what’s the point of doing that? What’s the point of going out and saying who’s better? What will people do when it’s Adesanya vs. Pereira? They’ll say it’s Adesanya? Well, the other guy did what he did, but he did it to him.” Three times. It’s one of those places where face-to-face is important, or why do we do it? Adesanya won [against Silva]. “
Sonnen also defended his position by pointing out what Adesanya was up against when he faced Silva – a fighter Adesanya had a crush on during his early days in combat sports.
“It’s a really tough place to be in Adesanya,” said Sonnen. “It’s really hard when you’re fighting your idol. Right? And Adesanya was 16 when I was working with Anderson. He was a skinny 16-year-old from New Zealand,” he tweeted.
I kept seeing his tweets and he was on Anderson’s side. He didn’t like me and he didn’t like mouth. It was one of those things – 16 [years old] – And after all these years, you’re standing opposite the man you looked up to, who got you into sports, his poster on your wall. There’s a lot against Izzy in that fight as well, and it’s not just father time that was against Anderson. It goes both ways. They fought, head to head, and he won.
“I don’t know, I guess you have to live with that,” Sonnen continued. And you know who backed me is Anderson. Anderson Silva won’t tell you, ‘Make an excuse for me.'” [He’d tell you,] I fought it, fair and square. he won.'”