Some of the intense feuds in MMA historical past is now a factor of the previous.
There was a time the place Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen may barely share the identical bodily area with out worry of an explosive state of affairs. Quick-forward to present day, nonetheless, and they’re each contemporary off being immortalized as a part of the 2024 UFC Corridor of Fame class.
Though they aren’t precisely finest associates, Silva (35-14-1), who grew to become an MMA icon for his ruthless depth out and in of the ring or cage, stated his perspective towards Sonnen (30-17-1) has advanced considerably over time.
“If I encounter him proper now, we now have a free battle,” Silva stated with amusing in a scrum with MMA Junkie and different reporters on the crimson carpet of the UFC Corridor of Fame this previous month. “It’s a joke. He’s a superb man. I like him. The rivalry is finished.”
Sonnen, 47, spent years taking jabs at Silva, 48, and questioning his resume with the now-defunct PRIDE FC group. They had been scheduled to battle 3 times beneath the UFC banner in 2014 after filming a season of “The Final Fighter” actuality sequence in Brazil, the place they famously fought on the set of the present.
“The Axe Assassin” would lastly compete in opposition to Sonnen in June 2016 beneath the Bellator banner, and would lose a unanimous resolution.
Virtually eight years after that battle, the pair have made peace.
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