Is it ever a good idea to make fun of a guy who is generally referred to as a “ninja?”

Probably not. Nonetheless, that is exactly what middleweight contender Chael Sonnen is doing. Here is what he had to say about Silva and Brazillian manager of the stars, Ed Soares. From Bloody Elbow:

“You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn’t. I’ve had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he’s so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking.”

“It’s quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me. How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, ‘jeez, they’re out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can’t understand them,’” Sonnen stated.

“That guy’s no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods,” said Sonnen. “That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there’s a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon.

How concise. Sonnen is making a lot of claims, and I wouldn’t doubt if some of them are true on a small level. However, to claim that Soares and Silva have created an elaborate ruse just to keep Anderson from talking to media seems a bit insane. Also, Soares might not be the world’s most interesting man, but is his probably one of the most powerful in the whole MMA world. He controls a whole stable of superstars that includes Silva, Big Nog, Jose Aldo and others. I’d be boring if I could be rich and powerful.

Here is what Soares said in response:

“I think Chael’s a really super nice guy and every time I’ve met the guy he’s always been really cool to me. That’s weird that he would say stuff on the radio, but I think at the end of the day, Chael’s not a dumb guy, he’s a pretty smart guy,” Soares commented. “I think no one will really pay attention to what he has to say unless he probably talks about Anderson.”

“Anyone that has a mouth can say what they want,” he said. “I don’t think people pay too much attention to what Chael does. Saying that Anderson’s boring or Anderson’s this, Anderson’s that, we don’t even need to go back and see what Chael has done. If you really want to analyze Chael’s career over the past couple years, he’s had some wins, but he said he didn’t tap against Paulo Filho. If the ref wouldn’t have stopped the fight, Paulo Filho would have his arm in Brazil with him.

What Sonnen is trying to do here is clearly build a little heat between himself and Silva in order to get himself a title shot. He probably knows that The Spider is not long for the middleweight division and a chance at beating Silva is Sonnen’s shot at leaving behind a huge legacy. He also would make some nice bank in the process.