Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva have a lot of history together. In 2010, Sonnen almost scored one of the biggest upsets in UFC history when he dominated Silva for 5 rounds before tapping to a triangle-armbar combination and later being tested positive for elevated testosterone levels. In the aftermath of that fight, Sonnen received a lot of heat from fans and media for being a ‘cheater’, now he is sort of returning the favor.
Being asked about the current situation with Anderson Silva on TSN’s “Off the Record”, Sonnen replied:
“If he did this, I would encourage him and anybody else, much like me, just come out and say you did it. The door is still open to come out and just tell us what happened. Say, ‘Listen, it was still in my system. I’m busted. I’m sorry.’ Lay it out, fade to black, and roll the credits.”
Sonnen himself has failed two more random drug tests last year, in the build-up to a long awaited grudge match against Wanderlei Silva. He admitted everything on television later and consequently stepped away from active MMA competition. Silva on the other hand took another road: He issued a brief statement, basically saying that he has nothing to do with performance-enhancing drugs and will appeal the test results. Not a good decision, says Sonnen:
“I can tell you, I wish he wouldn’t have said anything yet. He needs to put a little time between – let me talk about me, and not Anderson. I wanted to come clean. I wanted to tell everything I can, but when you’re confronted as a human being with shame, when you know you’re wrong, it’s very difficult to fully express everything. Now I eventually got there, but I’ll tell you first hand it took me a while. My first reaction was, ‘Hey, this is my business, and I don’t want to talk about it.’ I came through it, and I think if Anderson puts some time in between, he might change his stance. […] He might also be of the mind that he didn’t do it. Let’s let him work through that. I wasn’t there. I can tell you, the lab that was involved that did this answers to one person, and that is Sen. John McCain. This is a lab funded by the United States government. If someone were to come in and say this lab got it wrong, this lab is going to defend itself vigorously. It is not worth the fight.”
Anderson Silva has always been one of the great figureheads of top-level, drug-free MMA competition, until he broke his shin bone in a horrific accident at UFC 168 that sidelined him for over a year. Last Saturday he returned strong and many people wondered how the former UFC champion recovered that fast from such a severe injury. Sonnen has an explanation:
“He’s got an obligation to himself: health first – and sport way down the list. He has an obligation to get himself better – whatever he needs to do. Use science. I don’t care if it’s free market or black market, he needs to repair his leg. That’s OK, and we give him a pass. If he wants to come back and compete, which he decided he did, he’s got to operate within the rules. For right now, it appears that he tested positive for some banned substances. […] If he needed to help his leg, good for him, it just doesn’t mean he can return to the sport. If he returned to the sport and he didn’t disclose and go through channels, he’s going to have some red tape, and that’s what he’s going to have to work through.”
(Transcription via MMAJunkie.com)
After Silva’s positive test result, speculations start to spread whether he was using PEDs even before his leg injury or not. When asked, if he thinks Silva fought him under performance enhancers, Sonnen replied: “I have no idea.”
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