Chael Sonnen abhors street fighting, but will defend himself against Wanderlei Silva and his 'scumbag' henchmen

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight Chael Sonnen doesn't like to fight unless he's getting paid for it.

That said, he's still going to defend himself against a guy like Wanderlei Silva if "The Axe Murderer" comes within an arm's distance, something that nearly happened at a bodybuilding fan expo earlier this month in Las Vegas, when Silva and his "scumbags" ambushed Sonnen with the cameras rolling.

"The American Gangster" explains his position to Sherdog.com:

"I don't like street fighting. I don't like to hear about it. It's unprofessional and I'm not advocating any of this. However, I will not let a guy within arm's distance. Wanderlei, if his finger he was pointing touched me, I would have put him down right there. I would have had no choice. I must defend myself. And he had three friends -- these odds aren't great for me. I want to take down as many of these scumbags as I can while I can. You're going to show that you had to build up this courage to come and mutter at a guy, with three friends? I think that was the most confusing thing, for me. If I was doing the publicity stunt, I'm going to go, ‘All right, guys, listen. That backfired. That thing goes in the fireplace.'"

See video of their heated encounter here.

The Silva/Sonnen feud dates back several years now, stemming from a "dirtbag move" inside a van. To summarize, Wandy was chastising Chael for his verbal abuse toward Brazil and its most famous mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters, including Anderson Silva and the Nogueira brothers.

It continued to escalate from there.

Unfortunately, we're no closer to having them settle their score inside the Octagon -- due to this -- so this is just a "distraction" while Sonnen gears up for his UFC 167 co-main event against Rashad Evans next month at the promotion's 20th anniversary pay-per-view (PPV) event (details).

Anyone think UFC is crazy enough to let Wandy storm the cage after their fight to lay down the gauntlet?

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