Last night we got some very interesting breaking news in the world of boxing. One of the greatest rivalries in the history of MMA we see it’s third installment inside the squared circle. Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will be taking on former title challenger Chael Sonnen.
The boxing match is set for June 15th and it’s being dubbed as Silva’s retirement in his native Brazil. Starting with Sonnen, it’s crazy to see his involvement in this matchup. At 47 years-old, I didn’t see Chael Sonnen ever competing in martial arts again especially with all the success he’s having outside competing.
Sonnen has a show with Daniel Cormier on ESPN and he’s also a lead color commentator for the PFL and Bellator. Not too mention, Sonnen also has a successful YouTube page. However, The Bad Guy is back and he’s going to be boxing against the man he made history with.
Sonnen and Silva was one of the greatest rivalries we’ve ever seen in MMA. Sonnen was the first person to really make Silva look beatable inside the octagon. The two first fought at UFC 117 with Sonnen dominating the entire fight until he was submitted with just two minutes left in the final round. They rematched two years later with Silva getting the TKO win in the second round.
Boxing Match
Anderson Silva retired from the UFC inside The APEX in 2020 after suffering a loss to Uriah Hall. At one point, Silva was considered the greatest of all time and in my opinion, he’s still one of the best to ever do it. However, after losing his title to Chris Weidman and then brutally breaking his leg in their rematch, he was never the same.
After winning his first 16 UFC fights including going 12-0 in title fights, Silva went just 1-7, 1 NC in his final nine fights inside the octagon. Following his split from the octagon, Silva turned to boxing and defeated former world champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr and then he knocked out former UFC champion Tito Ortiz.
Silva ended up getting a matchup with Jake Paul and lost a decision in what was Paul’s first true test against someone with decent striking. We haven’t seen Silva since but now he’s returning for one more fight against his biggest career rival in Chael Sonnen.