Chael Sonnen prepared to fight Shogun Rua and any other Brazilian in his way It is the second event being shown on BT Sport, the new broadcast home of the UFC in the UK, and Ireland, in an agreement with Setanta Sport. I follow this sport closely... Every time that Little Nog [Nogueira] signs a contract, I go into training camp because I know there's going to be an opening. He pulls out of fights all the time," Sonnen told me, as if on a soap box. Sonnen has a beef with Brazilian fighters; Brazil now has a beef with him, too, with trips for Sonnen there reputed to involve security which Barack Obama might enjoy in the Middle East. Sonnen is a wanted man in the land of Cachaca and Caipirinha, Capoeira and jiu-jitsu. He created the persona of Brazil's Most Hated in two fights with Anderson Silva, whose crown was claimed by Weidman in July. I did this for a while with Vitor Belfort (went into special training camp). I did it when Vitor agreed to fight John Jones. I was just positive that he wouldn't show up. I was wrong, he did show up. But there are some guys that just pull out of fights constantly and Little Nog is one of those guys. So as soon as they give him a main event I go "Oh Jeez... I'm going to have to get ready to step in and face Shogun."" So here he is, with, incidentally a trail of Brazilians calling him out next. Belfort wants a pop at him in the Octagon, the UFC's combat arena, as does Wanderlei Silva, another decorated, if fading, Brazilian mixed martial artist. There is no holding Sonnen back... "Vitor and Wanderlei want to fight. Wanderlei has been offered the fight against me numerous times. That would be a huge fight. That has been a well talked-about, well-publicised, well-demanded fight for years. Lets not pretend for a second that the UFC doesn't try to put big fights on. Sonnen the promoter: "The UFC and Chael Sonnen have done everything they can do to get Wanderlei in there. The only time Wanderlei finds his courage is when he's doing an interview. He loves to say he wants to fight me in an interview, but he's never signed the contract. Now as far as Vitor, I've called Vitor out and he's called me out. I have better timing than Vitor. I call Vitor out when we can both fight. He calls me out when I'm booked, when I'm scheduled to fight somebody else. I'm not a hard guy to find, I'll be happy to fight him but don't give that chicken Wanderlei any credit for having the courage to fight me cause he doesn't have it. There you have it. Sonnen v Brazil. And it set to run and run...all good fun. So, to Saturday night in Boston. And Rua. Respect from Sonnen here. Oh he's excellent, he's a true legend, a world champion. He's a top-ten ranked fighter, he's the guy that John Jones beat to win the world title. I'm wary of him everywhere. I don't think for a second that whether I get him down I'm out of the woods. He's very good on the bottom especially in a couple of positions. But I don't care what these guys bring to the table, I'm going to fight them all. Anybody, any way, any time. Yeah I feel them every time. I'm not any different than anybody else. I experience every emotion. I've just got a lot of experience dealing with those emotions. I don't care if I'm happy, if I'm sad, I don't care if I'm excited or if I'm scared. When my music hits those speakers I will make that walk and I will fight anybody else that makes that same walk and comes in there. It will be a competitive contest this, with the popular Brazilian who is a formidable striker with all four limbs. Expect Sonnen to use his wrestling to avoid the dangerous strikes and get Rua to the ground quickly. It could come down to whether 'Shogun' can prevent the takedown, and how his conditioning holds out. Prevent the Sonnen takedowns and may knock Chael out in the early rounds, possibly with his knees. Sonnen will start fast, and apply pressure, trying to stop Rua from having space to work. The longer it goes, though, may afford Sonnen the opportunity to grind out a victory on the ground. But if Rua, now past his best, catches Sonnen, an entire nation may be left celebrating. On Gareth A Davies" blog later: Brad Pickett and Conor MacGregor previews and comments. Light Heavyweight Mauricio Rua vs. Chael Sonnen SONNEN Heavyweight Alistair Overeem vs. Travis Browne OVEREEM Bantamweight Urijah Faber vs. Yuri Alcantara FABER Welterweight Matt Brown vs. Mike Pyle BROWN Middleweight Uriah Hall vs. John Howard HALL Lightweight Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Johnson LAUZON Preliminary card (Fox Sports 1) Bantamweight Brad Pickett vs. Michael McDonald McDONALD Featherweight Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway McGREGOR