Chael Sonnen comes clean about true motivation behind fake Anderson Silva tattoo

Days after surprising his fans by getting a fake tattoo of Anderson Silva on his arm, Chael Sonnen has now come clean about his motivations behind the stunt.

Sonnen and Silva had a well-documented rivalry during their tenure at the UFC. They fought twice inside the octagon, with 'The Spider' coming out on top on both occasions.

When they first locked horns at UFC 117 in 2010, Sonnen dominated the first four rounds before getting finished by a triangle armbar submission in the final frame. Although 'The American Gangster' got a chance at retribution two years later at UFC 148, this time around, the Brazilian thoroughly outclassed his foe, knocking him out in the second round.

As such, fans were baffled when Chael Sonnen shared pictures on social media of himself getting a tattoo of his former rival on his right arm. However, it seems the tattoo was fake and is long gone from Sonnen's arm.

During a recent segment of Michael Bisping's podcast, the former two-time UFC middleweight challenger revealed he got the fake tattoo to promote Anderson Silva's new biopic. He said:

"[I got the tattoo] because I was participating in a promotion for the show [Anderson Silva's limited series]. I did not get a tattoo. I did lose it... [The] tattoo is fake, it was a sticker, and it's long gone... No, I have no tattoos."

Catch Chael Sonnen's comments below (9:59):

Anderson Spider Silva premiered on Paramount + on November 16. The series is based on the life of the legendary UFC Hall of Famer.

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When Chael Sonnen gave a hilarious response for why he tapped to Anderson Silva

Chael Sonnen infamously came agonizingly close to UFC championship gold in his first fight with Anderson Silva.

After dominating the first four rounds with his smothering wrestling, Sonnen ultimately fell prey to a triangle armbar by Silva in the final frame. During an interview leading up to his second fight against 'The Spider', Sonnen gave a tongue-in-cheek response to why he tapped to the legendary Brazilian, claiming ignorance. He said:

"As far as the first fight, this is the truth: that was a misunderstanding of the rules. The way I thought it worked was that if you tapped, you lost that round. So I thought what they would do is they would go to a judge's decision, they go four rounds to one, and we'd go home, and I'd be the new champion."

Catch Chael Sonnen's comments below (0:10):