After losing their first two fights inside the cage, Chael Sonnen heads into his boxing trilogy bout with Anderson Silva tonight as the underdog.
The two old rivals had a friendlier tone in their meeting this week, but there was still a clear rivalry between the two, perhaps more so on the American side. Their early fights saw him dominate Silva, who at the time seemed invincible, but lost in a matter of seconds.
And after two performances where he impressed with his grappling technique before giving up and getting knocked out, Sonnen now has to put all his faith in his hands. But the legendary Randy Couture believes he has better wrestling ability than he gets credit for, and is expecting a solid performance in his boxing debut.
Randy Couture is excited to see Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen return to complete the trilogy
Randy Couture is one Chael Sonnen worked with at each other’s previous camps during the peak of their careers. In fact, the former light heavyweight and heavyweight world champion’s fight with Josh Barnett was called by former teammates as the toughest of his career.
And Couture is fascinated by Sonnen’s move to boxing, having been eager to get back on Silva since their rematch ended in a controversial TKO. “In boxing, it’s going to be interesting,” Couture told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat ahead of this month’s PFL regular season showcase.
“I guess what I would say is I hope they both get paid very, very well. This is one of the classic rivalries of what many see as the golden era of fighting. We are all involved in this sport and Chael is as smart as they come and everyone is an Anderson Silva fan.
“He’s a sweet guy and an amazing athlete, there will be a lot of people watching to see how it goes.
Randy Couture warns Anderson Silva that Chael Sonnen has better boxing skills than he thought
Although many viewers expect Sonnen to be just an opponent in Silva’s final home fight in Brazil, Couture is confident he can impress with his boxing technique. The former middleweight and light heavyweight contender spent his youth wrestling, but Couture thinks he can box to a high standard.
“It’s probably more likely they’ll hear what kind of rhetoric Sonnen will bring to the show,” Couture joked. “But in the end I’m happy for both of them, I would say boxing is more to Anderson’s liking, but Chael is an incredible athlete.
“Chael has good boxing skills, he relies more on his wrestling but his boxing is quite good. Look at their background, Chael spent more time in his youth wrestling and developing those skills.
“But then Anderson spent his time striking and practicing kickboxing. These are two very different backgrounds colliding in a unique place in the boxing ring.”
Randy Couture details how fighters compete in their 40s and 50s to return to exhibitions
Sonnen and Silva are two of the latest athletes to return to combat sports years after their prime to compete for the ultimate win. The American hung up his gloves in 2019 at the age of 42, while his rival continued to fight after leaving the UFC in 2020 at the age of 45.
And Couture is quite happy to see athletes bounce back in subsequent years, as long as they are safe about it. “I certainly think it’s a paycheck and the passion for our sport died very, very hard and never went away, to be honest,” he explained.
“But at some point you have the rationalization that you probably shouldn’t climb those four steps back to the ring or into the ring; that’s not a wise idea. But I think we get more benefits from our bodies as a whole.
“In every sport, you see athletes competing well into their 40s and I think that means men are pushing those barriers into their 50s and 60s as well.”
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