Anderson Silva manager: ‘Chael Sonnen is a good person, but he crossed the line at times’

Apparently, the cure-all for hard feelings is engaging in fisticuffs inside an eight-walled cage.

It has apparently worked (at least temporarily) for Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Middleweight champion Anderson Silva and bitter rival Chael Sonnen, who seemingly squashed their big beef after this past weekend's (July 7, 2012) UFC 148 in Las Vegas, Nevada, where "The Spider" defeated Sonnen for the second time in two years to retain his 185-pound strap.

The lead up to the fight was very entertaining for most fans, who appreciated the quick wit of Sonnen in his attempts to promote the fight the best way he could. Whether it was taking jabs at Silva's wife, teammates or his Brazil, for Sonnen, there wasn't a line to be crossed.

It simply didn't exist in his eyes.

Others, however, didn't quite find it entertaining and did feel that the "American Gangster" crossed said line repeatedly.

Among those is Silva's manager, Ed Soares, who has his his drama-filled moments with Sonnen himself. He feels that Sonnen went too far in his comments leading up to the much-anticipated rematch, but says that when the cameras were off, Sonnen is a good guy and he actually likes him as a person.

Make the jump to see what Soares told Sherdog Radio:

"I've always thought Chael was a good guy. I just thought that he crossed the line. Chael is a good person. Chael, when the cameras are off, he's a good guy. He's a solid guy. I like Chael. I always have, but I'll tell you, whether he was just hyping [the fight] or not, there were times when he would start pissing me off and I had nothing to do with it. To hear Chael talk about Anderson's wife that way and talk about Brazil ... to talk about any nation and any other culture that way, I don't see the benefit for it, I really don't see the benefit for it. I do think he crossed the line. I don't think Chael's a bad person. I think Chael was just trying to do what he could to try to promote the fight and make this fight as big as possible, but I think that he did cross the line. I'll say it now and I've said it before, no one ever paid attention to Chael Sonnen. No one ever paid attention to him. Unfortunately his style of fighting's not exciting to watch. The only time people started paying attention to him was when he started talking about Anderson. Once he struck that nerve and saw that it worked, I think he just took it to another level."

Soares also talked about the chin-checking incident that occurred at the pre-fight weigh-ins in which Silva got a little too close to his opponent:

"Keith Kizer had a talk with us after the fight. He pulled us to the side and kind of talked to Anderson about what happened. Everybody that knows Anderson knows that that was a little bit out of character. Sometimes emotions get to people. I'm not saying I 100-percent agree with what he did, but I mean, come on, man. People can't forget that the guy was talking about his wife, talking about his country, talking about all that. At that point in time it's like two wrongs don't make a right, but it happens. It's a fight."

Keith Kizer, Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), who wasn't too thrilled with Silva's behavior, went as far as to warn Silva that if he ever acted that way again, he would not be welcomed to fight in Nevada again.

In the end, the aftermath of UFC 148 resulted in a loss for Sonnen and 10 straight title defenses for Silva. More important, however, it seems to have put an end to one of the ugliest and most bitter feuds in mixed martial arts (MMA) history between Sonnen and Team Blackhouse.

At least until Sonnen faces one of Silva's stablemates.