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Chael Sonnen calls out Wanderlei Silva for 'dirt bag move' in van, vows to 'straighten this thing out' inside Octagon

In Brazil we have a saying: You have respect, you don't lose your teeth. Give respect!

By Thomas Myers

In other words, Chael Sonnen, stop talking trash about Anderson Silva, the Nogueira brothers and Brazil or Wanderlei Silva will jumble your jaw.

That's the warning "The Axe Murderer" floated to the self-proclaimed "American Gangeter" in the backseat of a cramped van as the unlikely pair was shuttled between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) promotional events back in Sept. 2010. Sonnen was coming off a 4.5 round beatdown of "The Spider" one month prior at UFC 117, only to lose the 185-pound title fight via triangle choke with less than two minutes remaining on the clock.

In the build up to the match, Sonnen flapped his gums to get under the skin of his Brazilian counterpart. However, in doing so, he also -- for all intents and purposes -- went out of his way to insult, or at least irritate, the entire South American nation.

Silva was upset, so when he had the opportunity, he chided Sonnen for his remarks and told him to basically watch his step. In response, Sonnen -- who at the time appeared to have an immediate rematch with Silva in the works for New Year's Day before he was ultimately suspended by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) for using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) -- appeared to shrink and offered an awkward, "Thank you."

And the entire tense exchange was caught on camera and posted on YouTube.com (watch it here) to seemingly illustrate that Sonnen is merely a tough-talking turkey.

"Wanderlei pulled a real dirt bag move on me one time," Sonnen explained on the most recent episode of "UFC Tonight" on FUEL TV. "We're in a van together, he mutters something at me, but I can't understand what he's saying for the life of me. Truly, I couldn't understand him. He then puts this video on the Internet, with subtitles, because he knows I can't understand him — I don't even know if that's really what he said or not — and it looks as though I'm conceding to him."

Indeed, the rivalry has endured ever since, with the insults and threats flying back and forth over the years, but their professional paths never seemed to be on a collision course ... until now.

Sonnen is currently in No Man's Land, losing three title fights -- two to Silva at Middleweight and most recently to Light Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones at UFC 159 this past weekend (Sat., April 27, 2013). Silva, meanwhile, has won two of his last three performances, including his ridiculous brawl with Brian Stann in the UFC on Fuel TV 8 main event in March 2013, which he won via second round knockout.

All things considered, a showdown between Sonnen and Silva makes perfect mixed martial arts (MMA) sense, especially considering that both men are open to fighting at 205 pounds or at catchweight. And aside from playing awful April Fools Day jokes in the case of Silva, and healing his fresh wounds in the case of Sonnen, both men appear to have wide open fight schedules.

"I'm not going anywhere until me and Wanderlei Silva straighten this thing out once and for all," Sonnen said. "If you're a fighter, [what Silva did in the van] doesn't fly, it doesn't matter if you're in a van or not. You must respond, and I'm ready to respond to him."

And literally moments after Sonnen made his declaration, Silva took to Twitter.com to respond to Sonnen's latest challenge:

Let's get it on!?!?!?!?!

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