Wanderlei Silva still wants bout with Chael Sonnen, despite Sonnen's retirement

While the rivalry between Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) middleweights Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva most recently played out on the third season of The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) Brazil, the two have been jawing back and forth for years.

It began when Sonnen was embroiled in his "war of words" with then Middleweight Kingpin Anderson Silva. Sonnen made several disparaging remarks about Brazil that the former Pride champion took to heart and the "Axe Murderer" let the "Gangerster from West Linn" that he'd punch his teeth in.

Fast forward several years and it appeared that the two would finally clash inside the Octagon. Opposing coaches usually meet at the conclusion of the season. In fact, it's essentially the whole point of the television show.

Unfortunately, Sonnen and Silva never got a chance to fight. There were rumors that Silva never signed the bout agreement for their UFC 175 meeting despite posting several black & white videos on Youtube, which may or may not have been true.

What is true is that the match up fell apart when Wanderlei Silva ran out the back door of his gym when asked to submit to a random pre-fight drug test. Silva was out and Vitor Belfort was in, despite having his own drug test issueswith the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).

Sonnen used his position as an analyst at Fox Sports to dress down Silva in the media.

There was just one major problem: Sonnen also failed a random pre-fight drug test.

On Tuesday, Sonnen and UFC President Dana White appeared on Fox Sports 1 to discuss the positive drug test and Sonnen made it clear that if it was a choice between his health or his fight career, the choice was simple.

On Wednesday's episode of UFC Tonight, he officially announced his retirement from mixed martial arts (MMA). He leaves the sport with a 28-14-1 record and a legacy as one of the best talkers to ever set foot inside the cage.

While the MMA world has remained quite about his retirement, there is one fighter who took to Twitter. That man is Wanderlei Silva.

How run? Retired? After say all this shits about me,we need make this fight @sonnench

— Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) June 12, 2014

Unfortunately, Sonnen's retirement is likely permanent. He's 37 years old and doesn't exactly have to fight to put food on his family's table. Wanderlei Silva vs. Chael Sonnen will go down as one of the best hyped fights that never happened.