Chael Sonnen Gives Wanderlei Silva 24 Hours to Accept UFC on Fox Sports 1 Bout

No one picks a fight better than Chael Sonnen.

Following his loss to Jon Jones at UFC 159, retirement rumors swirled around the "Gangster from West Linn." But the notion of the former middleweight and light heavyweight contender walking away from the sport was quickly laid to rest when he started pursuing his next target in former Pride champion Wanderlei Silva.

Sonnen used his platform as co-host on Fuel TV's UFC Tonight to issue a challenge to "The Axe Murderer," proposing the two square off in August at the UFC on Fox Sports 1 card in Boston. Silva responded to Sonnen's call-out the next day on Twitter, suggesting that "real men" do their talking face-to-face.

But as the Oregon native has proven so many times in the past, once Sonnen gets his opponent to bite on the line he is throwing out, the intensity is sure to be taken up a notch. And what better way for Sonnen to get the boat rocking than on social media?

The mercurial mouthpiece posted a message on his Twitter Wednesday evening giving the former Chute Boxe Muay Thai machine 24 hours to accept the bout. In classic Sonnen fashion, he also tossed in an additional barb in Silva's direction, slighting the fighter for representing his home country of Brazil despite being a long-time Las Vegas resident.

At the time of this posting, there is yet to be an official response from Silva, but with Sonnen's challenge bringing the potential throwdown under the spotlight, the pressure is certainly on and the clock is ticking.

"

Wand- you have 24 hours to accept. If you do, I will donate 10% of my purse to help schools in your hometown of Curitiba .. I mean, VEGAS.

— chael sonnen (@sonnench) May 9, 2013"

With his latest endeavor underway, Sonnen is back to putting his promotional power to work. Despite being on a two-fight skid, albeit at the hands of the two best mixed martial artists on the planet, the 36-year-old has wasted zero time getting back to his groove where he picks fights with some of the biggest names in the sport.