The day Anderson Silva nearly killed Rafael Cordeiro with a shotgun

Chael Sonnen might want to rethink his Brazilian smear campaign ... Anderson Silva is straight-up gangster.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweight kingpin, who defends his 185-pound title in the main event of UFC 148 on July 7, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada, got slapped around in his younger days by then-Chute Boxe head coach Rafael Cordeiro.

Nobody slaps "The Spider."

Eduardo Cruz translates an excerpt from Silva's recently-released biography, recounting a story that could have severely altered the course of mixed martial arts (MMA) history.

Relive the harrowing tale, after the jump.

In a certain period of financial difficulty, Anderson Silva was making his living teaching jiu-jitsu classes and Rafael Cordeiro, Chute Boxe head coach at that time, didn't want him to continue. They had a heated argument in which Anderson was slapped on the face.

Afterwards, Anderson went to a place where Cordeiro was, accompanied by two guys, and held a shotgun while he was waiting for the coach to return. His two companions apparently lost their nerve and they talked Anderson out of the action, making him control himself and give up on his intent.

Today Anderson and Rafael are great friends and the UFC champion even trains with the master sometimes when he is in Los Angeles. But the publication of the book created some repercussion in the past week because Anderson had never told his friend about the incident - Anderson's son didn't know either, and learned about it on the internet.

Summarizing the book he explained, "The biography says the truth of everything that happened since my childhood until this moment. It documents day-to-day frustrations, what is good, what is bad, and how is bad to stay away from the family. The book tells my life."

Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed.

The Brazilian banger eventually went on to establish himself as the greatest middleweight fighter the UFC -- and perhaps the world -- has ever seen.

And who needs guns when you can fight like he does?

See Silva in action over the Fourth of July weekend in a fight that has been dragged out for months. See why right here.