UFC 148 Fight Card: What Does an Angry Anderson Silva Mean to Chael Sonnen?

Anderson Silva has ruled the UFC middleweight division for more than six years. He has always been relatively quiet, and never started any controversy.

The worst we had seen was at UFC 126 when Silva put on the mask and got in Vitor Belfort's face at the weigh ins for the event.

We all know how that fight ended, as Silva earned the first-round knockout victory. He was also very gracious in victory, checking on Belfort and hugging him while still on the ground.

But now, we are seeing a truly angry Anderson Silva.

Silva has promised to break Chael Sonnen's arms, legs and teeth. He has said he will "beat him like his parents should have," and has gotten aggressive at media events.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Silva and Sonnen went to square off for photo ops after the questions were done. Silva took the opportunity to inch in on Chael, and push him backwards. He then said something to Chael, although later refuted saying anything.

Sonnen later said he "thought Silva was trying to get disqualified."

Then, on Friday at the weigh-ins, he stepped it up to a different level.

Sonnen stepped on the scale and made the weight. Silva stepped on the scale and made the weight.

The anticipation was high for the staredown, as everyone was well-aware of the change happening to Silva.

Silva delivered, doing something that nobody expected.

The staredown started as it normally did, with Silva not even making eye contact with Chael. Then, Silva delivered a shoulder shot to the jaw of Chael.

Chael didn't even flinch, and the fighters were immediately separated as Silva continued jawing at Sonnen.

Get it? Jawing? He hit him in the jaw?

We've never seen Anderson Silva this angry. Some fighters fight better when they're emotional, and others perform very poorly.

If Anderson performs better when he's angry, we can only imagine what the Spider can do.

If Anderson performs worse when he's angry, then this fight is Chael's for the taking. His trash talking has finally gotten under the skin of Anderson, and Chael will have won the mental battle.

Saturday night will be very telling, and I can't wait to see what happens.

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.