UFC 117 conference call highlights and recap

"I'm going to take his belt on the 7th, and Dana is going to fire him on the 8th."

That's just one of the many quoteworthy lines that Chael Sonnen dropped on today's UFC 117 conference call. The Oregon native surely came prepared to do his part in selling the August 7th UFC middleweight title fight which is set to go down in Oakland, California.

The champion... uh, not so much. Anderson Silva seemed less interested in answering the media's questions than he was in finishing his fight with Demian Maia at UFC 112.

To say it was a bizarre hour of Q & A would be a gross understatement. At one point during the call, Silva's manager and translator Ed Soares began speaking for him as Anderson virtually refused to respond to questions with anything but one word answers.

As you can imagine, highlights were aplenty. Check them out after the jump:

Anderson Silva on whether this fight is his most anticipated fight of his career, "Nope."

Chael Sonnen: "Anderson has a lot of tools. I don't see a glaring weakness anywhere. I might look at tape this week."

Sonnen: "I'm the toughest guy in the company. There has never been a guy with earrings that can out-tough me and he's not gonna be the first."

Sonnen: "There are a lot of distractions for this fight. But if you're in the main event that's how it should be. You should have to answer a lot of questions about the fight and if you notice, all the questions are coming to me. I'm a partner with the UFC, he's an employee. People want to talk to me because I give coherent answers unlike my opponent who's on speaker phone somewhere driving in his car giving 'yes' and 'no' answers."

Silva: "Dana can say what he wants to say," regarding cutting him with another poor performance.

Sonnen: "I make all my comments with my political future in mind. I received 96.3 percent of the vote. I'm wildly popular."

Silva on whether he is tired with the whole media process in the lead up to the fight, "No."

Silva: "No, I'm not concerned about Sonnen's wrestling. I didn't have a problem with Dan Henderson and he was one of the best wrestlers around."

Silva on future fights, "I'm only thinking about my fight next week."

Sonnen on who he would want to fight should he win, "I think Vitor Belfort is in line next. That's not really who i would want to fight. I have a guy in mind and I'll challenge him on the night of the 7th."

Sonnen on why he dislikes Silva so much, "I've never had a problem with what he does in the cage. I don't believe in sportsmanship and honor. It's a fight. I just don't like him. I don't have to have a reason, not everybody can like everybody. I'm going to got out there and take his belt on the 7th and Dana's gonna fire him on the 8th." 

Silva said he's very excited about the atmosphere in the arena regarding the Brazil vs. U.S. match-ups.

Sonnen on the U.S. vs. Brazil match-ups, "I don't think it'll be too different. American fans aren't real biased. We just like whoever we like as opposed to other countries who are more loyal."

Sonnen: "I don't think Anderson has any fans. He's the only guy in the world that has been a champion for 4 years and only has one sponsor. Nobody wants to associate themselves with him. Nobody wants to dress like him or be like him. I, on the other hand, have numerous sponsors who do very well. That should tell you all you need to know about his popularity."

Sonnen: "Representing Oregon gives me a lot of motivation."

Sonnen: "Anderson has been picking his fights for years. He fought a Math teacher from Ohio and a one-legged Canadian. Things will be drastically different for him when he fights a world-class wrestler like myself."

Silva on whether he cares about fans booing him, "Fans are fans. They're cheering one minute and booing the next. Fans don't really understand what's happening in the cage. I don't blame them.

Silva on Sonnen's trash talk, "I actually think that what Chael is saying is funny."

Sonnen: "There's no argument that I'm the only one promoting this fight. Of course I'm promoting this fight myself. Nobody wants to hear from him. Nobody is making any money off the fight because of him. I don't even know why he's here. You guys [the media] are the only fans he has. I'm the one people want to see." 

Ed Soares then talked for Anderson saying he will handle his business on fight night.

Silva: "Everyone has their own way of promoting the fight. My job is to fight on August 7, not talk a bunch of crap about people." 

Silva: "I'm not bored at this weight class. I like this weight division and I'm prepared to stay in this division. I want to retire fighting in this weight category."

Sonnen: "I don't know what hype means. Hype is BS, it's phony. I answer questions that you guys ask, that's it. I don't think that's hype. That's the fight business. We have to make people want to watch our fight. I could pull Anderson Silva out of his hotel room any night and beat the crap out of  him, but i made a commitment to wait until august 7 to do that."

Sonnen: "He's a scary fighter, I know he's gonna hurt me really bad. But I'm confident that I can deal with the pain and take the belt from him anyway."

Silva: "It's out of the question that I will fight at a catch weight. If you want to beat me up come make my weight class."

Silva: "Chael feels like he has to promote the fight. It's not the same way that I choose to promote the fight. I'm here doing my job training for August 7. I feel like what I've done in the past promotes the fight enough."

Silva on why he was so upset with what Demian Maia had to say before their fight and why's not upset with Sonnen. "It has nothing to do with Maia being Brazilian. I just don't feel like responding to Chael. We can settle this in the cage. People don't pay to hear people talk crap about each other, they pay to watch them fight." 

Sonnen then sounds off with this: "He couldn't be any more wrong. Does he know anything about the business? People don't just want to watch people fight, they want to know why they are fighting. He thinks he's taking the high road. He is so clueless it's not even funny. The guy is a dummy. I can't wait to kick his ass."

Silva on what he does done differently in training for this fight as opposed to others, "I started training with Steven Segal." 

Sonnen: "I don't think he's gonna be that easy to take down. I don't think anybody has ever outgrappled him. But I've fought 41 men and I've never been outstruck. I doubt we're gonna be the first to do either to each other. It's gonna be a real fight, something that he's not used to."

And with that comes the end to this truly epic conference call. Here's hoping that the fight on August 7 can live up to the, dare I say, hype.