UFC 98-featured fighters Krzysztof Soszynski and Chael Sonnen, as well as MMA super-manager Ed Soares, were the featured guests on MMAmania.com’s exclusive presentation of Pro MMA Radio this week.

First up was Soares, the manager of Brazilian legends such as UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, former PRIDE and UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho and the number one-ranked 205-pound contender, Lyoto Machida, who has his title shot against Rashad Evans at UFC 98 on Saturday.

Soares was quick to play up the potential for the fight, saying that it could prove to be "one of those fights that people talk about for the rest of their lives."

"I don’t think we’re ever going to experience this in our lifetimes again," he said. "To see an undefeated champion fight an undefeated challenger — and not just any undefeated champion and any undefeated challenger — let’s look at these guys’ resumes. They’ve knocked out or beaten the who’s who of the sport. So I think this fight is actually a gift for all the MMA fans out there."

Despite the optimism, Machida has been criticized in the past for not finishing his opponents — eight of his 14 victories have come via decision, although he’s finished opponents in two of his last three fights. Soares understands the criticism.

"I know people want to watch the action. We all do. We all like to see a standup, bang out war. We all like to. But I think the whole spirit of martial arts is to go in there and inflict damage without getting hurt."

He says Lyoto has always tried to finish fights, citing his UFC 79 fight against Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou — a fight at the time considered the breakout moment of a future UFC superstar. "He finished Sokoudjou when Sokoudjou was supposed to be the greatest thing since sliced bread."

Machida’s latest victory came against another undefeated fighter in the heavy-handed Thiago Silva. Again Machida looked for the finish, snatching it at 4:59 of the first round just as time was about to expire. Soares considers it the "natural evolution" any great fighter goes through. The more time he spends in the Octagon, the more comfortable he becomes.

He insists Machida is doing everything right, from diet to training, which he’ll need if he wants to take the title from Rashad Evans.

Soares spent the beginning of the interview answering criticism of another of his fighters, Anderson Silva. Despite being largely seen as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Silva’s last two fights have been underwhelming, although the amount of blame that falls on Silva is up for debate.

In Silva’s most recent fight against Thales Leites at UFC 97, Leites repeatedly pulled guard unsuccessfully and avoided engaging on the feet en route to a boring five round decision loss. Soares understands the criticism, but notes that "it takes two to engage."

Soares defends his fighter: "I didn’t think the fight was as bad as people were saying. At the end of the day he walked out there unharmed defending the belt. It wasn’t a highlight reel finish, but it was a very technical finish. Anybody to fight five rounds with Thales Leites and walk out with not even a mark on your face, to me, is saying something."

With four fights left on his UFC contract — including his UFC 101 light heavyweight fight against former champion Forrest Griffin — the importance of making each one count grows exponentially. While Soares backed off of naming specific opponents, he said he was excited about the Griffin fight because it has all the potential of a legendary, historical fight, noting that Griffin is a big heavyweight who "brings it every time." "That’s a fight fans are going to get definitely twice their money’s worth."

And hopefully there are three more where that one came from. Demian Maia? Wanderlei Silva? Anderson Silva is interested in the biggest possible fights that there can be. Legendary fights. "We want to have history-making fights. He made history in his last fight by having nine consecutive wins, and he wants to keep making history."

Which begs the question, what’s the bigger priority, a legacy fight outside the division or defending the belt against no one capable of filling those shoes? "I think that’s fair to say. I think that that’s what’s important. And that’s one thing that I feel Dana White always seems to always say. He likes to put on these legendary fights … Those are the fights that people want to see."

And what happens when those four fights are up? Is Silva interested in further competing in MMA after his UFC contract is fulfilled? Said Soares: "We’ll have to see. I don’t know. It’s really hard to say. I guess we’ll just have to see after those four fights. Like I said, his goal was to retire. When he gets to 35 maybe his goal was to have the option to retire. Our goal as his managers working with him is to help him achieve that goal."

Concerning his heavyweight fighter, Soares admitted Nogueira appeared thick in his last fight against Frank Mir, but the former champion makes no excuses for the loss — despite having just recovered from a staph infection shortly before the fight. Soares said Nogueira considers it an honor to fight Randy Couture at UFC 102, and with a win, "Minotauro" can find himself right back in title contention.

Soares also touched on former WEC middleweight champion Paulo Filho, who he says is training in Brazil and is in great shape at 91 kilos (about 200 pounds). Filho had suffered a setback in recent years after checking into a substance abuse rehab facility and suffering depression. Soares says Filho is today back on track and looking forward to fighting in Japan.

"He’s the type of fighter that if he gets his head on straight — which he is, he’s back, focused — he’s still one of the best middleweights in the world."

Pro MMA Radio rounded out its coverage with a pair of guests who are being featured as late additions to Saturday’s injury-ridden UFC 98 card: Krzysztof Soszynski, who agreed to fill in for an injured Houston Alexander in a fight against Andre Gusmao, and Chael Sonnen, filling in for an injured Yushin Okami in a fight against Dan Miller.

Soszynski is riding a five-fight win streak (two inside the Octagon) and is coming off his third-straight submission victory via kimura — this one over former WEC light heavyweight champion Brian Stann at UFC 97 in April.

"The Polish Experiment" is no stranger to fighting friends and training partners, including Stann, Vinny Magalhaes — who eliminated Soszynski from The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Season 8 competition — Mike Whitehead and Jason Day, who Soszynski has fought twice. While he admits fighting training partners can be both an advantage and disadvantage because you know one another’s games, he insists it’s not much different than fighting an enemy.

"To be honest with you, for me, there’s not too much difference. This is a sport. This is a business. Just like in any other sport — whether it’s football, baseball, basketball — so many of these guys are friends with each other regardless of if they play against each other or not. For us, we have to fight. We have to use our fists, use our knees, use our hands to do the damage. But in the end of it, we’re still friends after."

And how was it that he came from appearing on the Canadian UFC 97 card in April — one of the biggest moments in the life of the longtime Winnipeg resident — to UFC 98 just five weeks later?

It started with Houston Alexander breaking his hand. Soszynski had prepared for Stann for 15 weeks and afterward taken two weeks off to spend with family in Canada "eating pizza and ice cream." Then came a text message from Team Quest’s Dan Henderson. Despite weighing 233 pounds three weeks out, Soszynski immediately accepted the fight with Gusmao. He typically walks around at 240 or even 245 pounds, although on Tuesday’s broadcast said to be weighing in around 224 and feeling "very comfortable in the weight."

Against Gusmao, he expects strong kicks and a dangerous ground game, although he thinks the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt’s "hands are weaker than his kicks." Soszynski freely admits his game plan is to stand.

"Oh, absolutely. Anytime you go against a BJJ black belt, you want to test his hands first. You want to test him on the feet. And that’s obviously the game plan first is test him on the feet. See what happens there. And if the opportunity comes for me to get it to the ground, I will go there if I have to, no worries."

Rounding out the coverage was another fighter taking a UFC 98 fight on short notice in Chael Sonnen, the only man to defeat Paulo Filho and the uncrowned final WEC middleweight champion. Staying true to form, Sonnen wasn’t afraid to be outspoken.

Although in his last outing at UFC 95, he succumbed to a triangle choke, it’s difficult to fault Sonnen too heavily — Maia’s jiu-jitsu is literally second-to-none; however, Sonnen finds it hard to compare. "I can’t speak specifically of his jiu-jitsu. I don’t understand that sport well enough to know one jiu-jitsu game from another."

Sonnen’s next opponent, Dan Miller, was originally slated to face Yushin Okami at UFC 98. When Okami pulled out due to injury, it was largely reported that Ed Herman would be his replacement, only to have his teammate, Sonnen, take the fight.

Sonnen confirmed the confusion, saying that Matt Lindland had accepted the fight on Herman’s behalf, believing he would take the fight. When Herman declined, "Short Fuse" asked Sonnen to take the fight to keep him from falling out of favor with matchmaker Joe Silva, despite the fact that Sonnen was 36 pounds heavy with 22 days to make weight.

Sonnen had been scheduled to fight at UFC 102 in his home state of Oregon against Wilson Gouveia. He assumed accepting the UFC 98 fight wouldn’t affect the second fight, only to be informed that wasn’t the case. So much for doing the UFC a favor. Where’s the love? Especially for THE man who legalized the sport of mixed martial arts in Oregon.

Cue record scratch.

You heard right. Straight from the horse’s mouth:

"I legalized mixed martial arts in Oregon. That’s very hard to do. The UFC spent millions of dollars in state after state attempting to get it legalized. I did that. On my own. I’m very proud of it. It’s one of the bigger accomplishments that I’ve had. I formed a political action committee, lobbied the legislature, ultimately I testified in front of a Senate subcommittee, and I got the laws changed. I opened the doors not only for MMA, but also for Vince McMahon and professional wrestling to return to Oregon."

Sonnen recounted how he was taken to court seven times for organizing MMA events and beat the state of Oregon all seven times, from 2002 through 2004. Essentially the language in the legislation prohibited "no-holds barred events," but because Sonnen’s events followed the unified MMA rules of Nevada, there were several "barred holds," meaning that MMA did not fall under those guidelines and was, in fact, legal within the state.

Sonnen then formed a political action committee and worked with the state to help get MMA regulated; however, because he was just 24 or 25 years old at the time, he felt it was difficult for legislators in Salem to take him seriously, so he brought in Randy Couture and Matt Lindland.

And if Sonnen has anything to do with it, this fact won’t be lost on matchmaker Joe Silva. He plans to bring it up this weekend in Vegas when he sees him.

"I think if the UFC knew that, that might change things. I’m not just another guy in this state in terms of MMA, I’m THE guy that allowed it to be legal, and went to court seven times, it was to great expense and took several years, and I got the law changed. So I think if Joe Silva knew that fact, it may change his mind and he may say, ‘Well, the guy that made this whole thing possible, maybe we got a spot for him on the card after all.’"

THE man indeed.