Chael Sonnen was unable to become the UFC light heavyweight champion last weekend in New Jersey and he announced on Tuesday night that he has no intentions of retiring.
Along with announcing his intentions to not retire, he stated that he plans to stay at light heavyweight instead of moving back down to the middleweight division.
“I’ll fight at 205,” Sonnen said on UFC Tonight. “I’m not retiring. I’m 36 years old. I have a lot of goals and I’m not going to reach them if I retire. I don’t have a lot of options at 185. I’ve fought everyone in the top 10, including the champion a couple of times. So I moved up to 205, but I lost to the champ and it wasn’t a competitive enough match to warrant another chance.”
“So what do I do? It was a lot better experience, not having to get the weight off. I’ll give up the size, but have a smile on my face. I could be talked into going back down if that’s where the fights are. The landscape changes quickly. I think there will be a big shakeup on July 4th weekend when Weidman gets his hands on Anderson.”
When it comes to who Sonnen would like to fight next, he mentioned that a fight against Wanderlei Silva would make sense at this time.
“Wanderlei called me out before, but the fight never made sense. Now it does. I’m not going anywhere until me and Wanderlei straighten this thing out once and for all. Wanderlei pulled a dirt bag move on me one time. He said something to me that I couldn’t hear, and then put it on YouTube with subtitles because he knew I couldn’t understand it and called me out. If you’re a fighter, that doesn’t fly. You must respond to him, and I’m ready to respond to you Wanderlei.”
After Sonnen made that statement on FUEL TV on Tuesday night, Silva went to Twitter with a simple tweet.
@sonnench?
— Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) May 1, 2013
With Sonnen and Silva interested in the fight, it appears that it’s just a matter of time before the UFC announces when and where this fight will take place.