UFC 132 Results: Chael Sonnen Calls out Lyoto Machida, Not Wanderlei Silva

UFC 132 saw one of the most impressive knockouts in recent memory when Chris Leben was able to defeat one of his idols, Wanderlei Silva, in the semi-main event.

But the event may also be memorable for another reason as former middleweight No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen continued his verbal tirade on the organization by challenging yet another Brazilian fighter, Anderson Silva’s friend and fellow Black House member Lyoto Machida. 

This came as somewhat of a surprise as Sonnen had been openly bashing Wanderlei in the media for the past few weeks leading up to this event. 

“I was cheering for Chris [Leben],” Sonnen admitted tonight to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani. “I don’t have any ill-will towards Wanderlei; I hope he’s okay.”

Sonnen was in attendance and witnessed Silva get knocked out of the fifth time in his last eight fights.

“He can’t do this work,” Sonnen bluntly stated. “But I certainly hope he’s okay.” 

“The only guy that would’ve finished him quicker is me.”

When asked if he would like to be the next to fight Silva, Sonnen shook his head and dismissed the idea entirely.

“No, it doesn’t make sense,” he explained. “Wanderlei is going to need to do something else. I don’t have any interest in getting in there with him. I don’t want to be the next guy to force him to have a flashlight shined in his eyes.” 

But he did have his eyes set on a fight, surprisingly one outside his own middleweight division. For whatever reason, Sonnen apparently wants to fight former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida.

“There’s a karate guy at 205 pounds. I might stop there on my way back to 185. For a tune-up fight, take out Machida.” 

Machida is coming of a huge win over Randy Couture at UFC 129. Though the fight against Sonnen would certainly be one that fans would look forward to, it’s hard to say that it would be a great fight for Machida to take if he hopes to move back up the ranks in the light heavyweight division.

With Sonnen having been off for nearly a year at this point and moving up in weight classes, it’d be difficult for matchmaker Joe Silva to give Machida much credit if he were to defeat the loud-mouthed 185-pounder.

That said, expect to hear much more about this potential fight in the coming weeks.