After losing their first two fights in the cage, Chael Sonnen is heading into his trilogy boxing bout with Anderson Silva tonight as a big underdog.
The long-time rivals have had a much friendlier build-up to their meeting this week, but there is still a clear competitive feud between the two, perhaps more prevalent on the American’s side. Their initial bout saw him dominate Silva, who was then seemingly unbeatable, but losing with seconds on the clock.
And after two showings where he impressed with his grappling before being submitted and knocked out, Sonnen will now have to put all of his faith in his hands. But the legendary Randy Couture believes that he has better wrestling than given credit for, and expects a solid showing in his boxing debut.
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Randy Couture excited to see Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen return to finish trilogy
Randy Couture is one of Chael Sonnen worked together in one another’s camps previously during the peaks of their careers. In fact, the former light-heavyweight and heavyweight world champion’s camp for his fight with Josh Barnett was cited by his former teammate as the toughest of his career.
And Couture is fascinated by the upcoming move to boxing for Sonnen, who has been keen to get back on Silva since their rematch ended in a controversial TKO. “In boxing that’s going to be interesting,” Couture told Bloody Elbow in an exclusive chat ahead of PFL’s slate of regular season shows this month.
“I guess what I’ll say is I hope they both get paid very, very well. It’s one of those classic rivalries from what many see as the golden era of fighting. All of us were banging around in the sport and Chael is as clever as they come and everybody is a fan of Anderson Silva.
“He’s such a sweetheart and such a fantastic athlete, there’s going to be a lot of people tuning in to see how that goes.
Randy Couture warns Anderson Silva that Chael Sonnen has better boxing skills than he may expect
Even though many viewers are expecting Sonnen to be little more than an opponent for Silva’s final home fight in Brazil, Couture is sure he can impress with his boxing. The ex-middleweight and light-heavyweight contender spent his youth wrestling, but Couture reckons he can box at a high standard.
“Perhaps more likely is they’ll be tuning in to see what kind of rhetoric Sonnen is going to bring to the show,” Couture joked. “But at the end of the day I’m happy for both of them, I would say boxing favours Anderson but Chael is a remarkable athlete.
“Chael has good boxing, he relied more on his wrestling but his boxing is pretty decent. Look at their backgrounds, Chael spent a lot more time in his youth wrestling and developing those skills.
“But then Anderson was spending that time striking and working on kickboxing. It’s two completely different backgrounds colliding in a unique venue in a boxing ring.”
Randy Couture details how fighters are competing into their 40s and 50s for exhibition comebacks
Sonnen and Silva are two of the latest athletes to make a return to combat sport years after their primes in order to compete for one last payout. The American hung up the gloves in 2019 at the age of 42, while his rival has continued fighting after leaving the UFC in 2020 at the age of 45.
And Couture is happy enough to see athletes making comebacks in their later years, so long as they are safe about it. “I certainly think it’s a paycheck and that passion for our sport dies very, very hard and doesn’t go away ever, honestly,” he explained.
“But at some point you have the rationalisation that you probably shouldn’t be climbing those four steps back up to the ring or the cage; it’s not a wise idea. But I think we’re getting a lot more out of our bodies across the board.
“In every sport you’re seeing athletes compete well into their 40s and I think that translates to guys pushing those barriers for that into their 50s and 60s as well.”
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