Chael Sonnen is a hard man to define, that’s the basis of a brilliant piece by Ben Fowlkes at MMA Fighting. Fowlkes talks about Sonnen’s more humble attitude in his earlier fighting days and the transition into the brash title contender always quick with a witty line and how difficult it is to pin down the “real Chael Sonnen.”
In the piece, Chael is asked if it would upset him to be remembered for his interviews more than his in-cage accomplishments and gives an answer that warms my heart:
“That would be a compliment,” he said. “I wouldn’t feel bad about that. ..You know, these guys want to talk about God. ‘Oh, I want to thank God. I want to thank God.’ Listen, I’m a God-fearing man, go to church every Sunday and have since I was a boy. But if I ever found out that God cared one way or another about a borderline illegal fist-fight on Saturday night, I would be so greatly disappointed that it would make rethink my entire belief system.”
He also talks about his opponent Saturday night at UFC on Fox 2, Michael Bisping:
“He certainly hasn’t beaten anybody that’s any good, rankings-wise,” said Sonnen. “But Bisping, you can’t take from him, because he wins. Regardless of the opponent, which he doesn’t have a lot of say in, he gets his hand raised. That’s undeniable. …I’m not a naysayer on Bisping. I’m a supporter, and if he got a shot [at the title], I’d tune in to watch.”
There are some people already upset that this sort of dream match-up of trash talkers isn’t really delivering the expected level of vitriol. But, given how restrained Chael was for his last fight against Brian Stann, maybe this is the real Chael Sonnen. And maybe he really, truly does believe that Anderson Silva “sucks.”