UFC 148: Chael Sonnen discusses loss to Anderson Silva, talk of appeal, and retirement

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

In the days following his loss to Anderson Silva at UFC 148, Chael Sonnen hasn't said much. A couple of his trainers have chimed in about the fight, however, with one questioning whether Sonnen will walk away from MMA after the loss, and another publicly demanding a rematch and wanting to appeal the loss due to what he felt was an illegal knee from Silva.

On Tuesday night, following the Fuel TV weigh-in show for UFC on Fuel 4, Sonnen finally spoke up, addressing those issues and commenting on the fight and his future. First up was his take on the ill-advised spinning back fist that led to the semi-controversial knee strike, as well as his thoughts on the knee's legality.

"In fairness, had that landed, we would have talked about what a wonderful spinning punch it was," Sonnen began. "But I didn't, I spun around like a doofus. The knee really hurt, all the shots really hurt. Here's the reality. We don't do instant replay in this sport and we shouldn't."

"It comes down to a judgment call. And wherever the referee says the knee landed officially, that is where the knee landed. That is an excellent official, as they all are. He made his call and I will never complain and look back."

Sonnen made it clear as well that he has no desire to appeal the loss due to the knee, taking a very different stance on the issue than his coach Scott McQuarry.

"The referee's judgment is what stands," Sonnen said. "I trust in that and it works both ways. The referee makes the decision and that is the decision, we live with it. We would never go and appeal. A decision is a decision. Part of competing is you have to know how to lose. It's real easy to win, but you have to know how to lose. You have to man up, swallow it and walk out."

As for whether swallowing the loss and walking out means he'll be walking away from the sport, Sonnen explained that it's not a decision he's ready to make.

"I don't think any athlete should even begin to talk like that or even think like that until you let 30 days go by," Sonnen said. "In anything in life, you don't want to make decision based on emotion. You have very big highs and very big lows in this sport. You don't want to make any drastic decisions."

"I think it's an insult to the fans when guys just say I retired, when they really mean I will see everybody in 18 months because I am coming back. When I get to that point in my career I will make the statement and I'll never look back."

Penick's Analysis: The reaction to the thought of an appeal was considerably negative online, and it wasn't coming from Sonnen himself, so it's good for him that he came out himself and squashed it entirely. His future is still certainly cloudy, especially after such a convincing loss and the fact that he'll probably be several fights away from another chance at a title shot. But it's also smart of him not to make any declarations as to whether he'll continue fighting or not, and he's not wrong about the "retirements" of several fighters who then turn around and return a short time later. For now, the saga of Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen should be at a close.

[Chael Sonnen art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_13809.shtml

lamictal withdrawal lamictal generic lamictal dosage side effects of lamictal