Little by little, Bellator has chipped away at the UFC’s stable of talent, taking a supporting player here, a headliner there. From Phil Davis to Benson Henderson to Rory MacDonald, the additions have given Bellator more recognizable names than it’s ever had. Few, however, have offered the potential versatility and value of its newest signee—Chael Sonnen, a Swiss Army knife of a roster piece who has shown the ability to generate both explosive headlines and impressive box office receipts.
Given the UFC’s recent conversion to money (and moneyweight) fights, its inability or unwillingness to return Sonnen into the fold comes as a surprise.
In the UFC, Sonnen served as one of the promotion’s top salesmen, whether he was plugging his own fight or an upcoming headline act while co-hosting the weekly news show UFC Tonight. When it came to delivering the company’s message, Sonnen was among the best ever to do it.
Now he’s working for the opposition.
Still, there are questions about how effective Sonnen will be in the same role for Bellator.
Even before he hung up his gloves in the aftermath of a two-year suspension for failed drug tests, he had lost three of his last four bouts. He is 39 years old now, and after nearly three years of inactivity, it’s unreasonable to expect him to turn back the clock and summon prime athletic performances. Beyond that, his reputation took another hit after a second career suspension for performance-enhancing drugs.
In truth, however, fans don’t build combat sports mega-events in search of technical mastery or moral exemplars; they get made based on the fight’s backstory or the fighter’s story.
Sonnen’s foundational brilliance was making the fight world care about an athlete who was never gifted with grade-A physical skills and rarely fought in the reckless style that has historically been among the most crowd-pleasing.
Instead, he convinced them with words.
He wrote poems, embarrassed fans, slammed legends and insulted entire nations. Not all of this was good or noble behavior, but it was usually damn entertaining.
It also wasn’t completely genuine.
On at least one occasion, Sonnen broke the fourth wall and explained why he said the things he said. Most notably, in the midst of an ongoing feud with Wanderlei Silva, he was forced to explain who was supposed to be the “bad guy” and who was supposed to be the “good guy,” per MMA Fighting.
In that same interview, Sonnen said that if he came back to MMA, he’d be “teaching class” on how to promote.
Unlike many athletes, Sonnen has spent a considerable amount of time studying the media and fans and how to feed their interests. Some would even say he’s learned how to manipulate both and to great effect. He also is willing to step out on the ledge and say things others would never be willing to say for fear of being viewed in a negative light.
Sonnen understood that good or bad didn’t matter—the only way to box office success was getting people to care.
His degree of difficulty in returning to the same effectiveness comes as the sport has evolved in his absence.
“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,” Sonnen said during a media conference call to announce his Bellator signing.
While he was gone, someone else usurped Sonnen’s throne as MMA’s top trash-talker. Conor McGregor now wears the crown, earning renown with a style that is more pointed, brasher and more authentic.
McGregor has flashed the same attitude from the day he walked into the UFC for the first time. With Sonnen, we know there’s some degree of make-believe, some wink-wink inside joke that we’re privy to.
Will that kind of approach make an impact in 2016 and beyond?
In some ways, it depends on his foil. Sonnen rose to fame when he targeted longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, a man who was his polar opposite in most important categories. While Sonnen was a grinding wrestler with a motormouth and a propensity to say anything, Silva was a physical marvel who excelled in striking but was often aloof, rarely saying anything of interest.
In that way, they were perfect foes.
For Sonnen to find any similar effectiveness in Bellator, he needs another rival to emerge from Bellator’s roster. He’s already spoken about potential fights with Tito Ortiz, Fedor Emelianenko, Rory MacDonald and Wanderlei Silva.
While Sonnen said Monday in an interview with The MMA Hour that a bout with Ortiz seems the most likely, matchups with any of those recognizable names could result in a ratings bonanza for Bellator if Sonnen gets the proper platforms to promote.
While the UFC advertises its programs throughout cable television, Bellator tends to focus its ads on Viacom-owned properties with an emphasis on Spike. That has given it the feeling of a self-contained ecosystem. Sonnen’s outsized personality offers the company a chance to break out of that mold.
He showed his crossover ability immediately upon signing with the promotion, generating his return announcement through The Associated Press, the global news outlet that rarely covers any MMA outside the UFC sphere. He will also continue his role as an ESPN analyst, ensuring the leading sports network will have a stake in his bouts.
Already, he’s made an impact. Still, Sonnen will likely have to up the ante to help push Bellator to the next level. In the three years since he last competed, there are more promotions, dates and options than ever. Breaking through all of the noise—even on Bellator‘s basic cable platform as opposed to UFC’s pay-per-view structure—is no longer about screaming the loudest.
It’s about what you say and how you say it. And then following that up by performing.
For all his bluster, McGregor vaulted to superstardom not only because he stalked Jose Aldo around the world for two years but also because when he got his chance, he delivered with a shocking 13-second knockout. Even when he lost to Nate Diaz, he had built up enough credibility to drive his next fight, which ended up being a blockbuster rematch that may have broken the all-time pay-per-view buyrate record, according to Dave Meltzer of MMA Fighting.
Sonnen doesn’t have quite the same equity to draw on, not after his losses, layoff and suspensions.
He will have to convince the masses that at age 39 he is still worth watching and that the stakes behind his fights are meaningful. That will be difficult to pull off for any extended period. Still, everyone loves a good comeback story, and for the time being, Sonnen has the fight world’s attention.
Now it’s up to him to deliver.
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