Mycket har förändrats inom MMA sedan Chael Sonnen var aktiv i sporten 2013, då han var en utav UFC:s största trash talkers och kasserade in stora summor för sina matcher, trots att han aldrig lyckades ta hem bältet.
Sonnen planerar nu inför sin comeback efter att ha varit avstängd under två års tid, då han åkte fast för dopning 2014. Han berättar nu att en av huvudmotivationerna till att han gör comeback är ilskan över hur MMA ser ut i dagens läge, då pengar ofta verkar ha större betydelse än sporten.
Det här berättade Sonnen under en telefonkonferens med Bellator:
I keep watching these guys, and it’s like Marshall Mathers says: they might walk like me and talk like me, dress, act, not give a dang like me, and they just might be the next best thing, but they are not quite me. I’m watching these guys and they’re talking about money and who their opponents are and the weight class and then this happens. Who cares about all of that stuff?
You either want to fight or you don’t, and one of my main motivations for coming back is pure anger. I sit back as a fan, I watch these guys quibble and squabble. I put this deal together with Coker over three phone calls. I didn’t negotiate. I didn’t ask for anything. I wanted an opportunity to fight, that was it. And he’ll tell you the same thing. It was as simple as that.
I am legitimately pissed off as a fan when I sit and read about guys who will only do this for ‘x’ amount of money, and everybody needs to be bribed. They need this big carrot dangled in front of their face. It comes back to the Olympic spirit. It comes back to ‘let’s get that world championship.’
Do you want to do it or not? And the right guy, the best guy, every time says yes. And (number) three and four and five can go and do all these pity parties and come up with all of these reasons why they don’t want to jump and fight. I’m not one of those guys. I want to do it.
Sonnen är även upprörd över att fighters fokuserar för mycket på viktklasser. Själv planerar han att gå matcher i mellanvikt, lätt tungvikt eller tungvikt under den kommande tiden i Bellator.
That goes back to the willingness that I’m talking about. The right guy steps forward. If you can beat a guy but you’re in a different weight class, then fix the weight class and get the fight done.
I’m going to out and fight as hard as I can, and when time runs out, someone’s going to get their hand raised. But I’m going to fight them all as hard as I possibly can.
I get competitive in other ways than just in the ring. I want the highest rating. I want the biggest pay-per-view numbers. I want to move more t-shirts and more tickets than anybody else. I look at those numbers, and I had all of those records. I retired. When I retired, I got beat. All of those records are gone now. I used to have the North American gate (record). I used to have the pay-per-view (record). We were on FS1, I had the FS1 (record). I had them all. I’ve lost them all, and I’m here to get them all back.
All of them. Numbers do not lie. I’m taking them all back.
