Midnight Mania! Sonnen Fought Every GOAT, GSP Is Best

Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

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Welcome to Midnight Mania!

Chael Sonnen has a lot to say, and he certainly won’t let retirement stop him. The former three-time UFC title challenger has fought the absolute best of the best inside the cage over his long career, including few of the potential Greatest Of All Time (GOAT) candidates. As a result, Sonnen has unique insight into that debate.

Here’s the direct quote from Sonnen, or you can check out his full Youtube video below: “I’ve fought Fedor, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva, and I’ve trained with Georges St. Pierre. I will tell you who the best fighter of those four is: it is Georges St. Pierre.” Sonnen also argues that St. Pierre’s return from retirement to capture the Middleweight title is the “nail in the coffin” regarding to argument of who’s the greatest of all time.

Sonnen’s fights with the three GOAT candidates came at different points in their careers. Fedor Emelianenko was hopefully near retirement at the age of 42, whereas Jon Jones was definitely in his prime and crushing everyone. It’s up for debate if Sonnen faced the best version of “The Spider” as well. Silva was still a killer and the rightful champion, but his slide began shortly after the second Sonnen victory. Likely, Sonnen faced Silva near the end of his best years or shortly after them.

As for “GSP,” Sonnen’s experience with the Canadian legend was only in the practice room. Many fighters are much superior in the gym than in the cage, where weight cuts and pressure are much larger factors. Despite his greatness, that may be true for St. Pierre as well, who was notably nervous before his fights.

All the same, Sonnen’s perspective is at the very least quite interesting!

Insomnia

Absolutely awesome scrambling skill:

In fairness, lunch at Whole Foods is an expensive burden.

Haqparast is a very talented young prospect.

Cyborg goes on the offensive!

Anyone champing at the bit to get blasted in the face by a bare knuckle “Rumble” right hand?

It pleases me to see Rizin doing so well. Global MMA is good!

Francis Ngannou is under attack!

Slips, rips, and KO clips

This man is smooooooth.

Rough luck when a kick is successfully blocked but still does major damage.

JWP with a brutal throwback liver shot KO:

Random Land

Don’t look down.

Midnight Music: Every once in a while, a single song will help change my view on a band entirely, causing me to reevaluate past songs and albums that initially did not affect me. My 1001 Albums book is forcing me to listen to a lot of The Byrds — whom I’ve never loved despite their objective goodness and them being right up my alley stylistically — but I really liked “Mr. Spaceman” and hope it’s a step in that direction.

I still hate their cover of “Mr. Tambourine Man” though.

Sleep well Maniacs! More martial arts madness is always on the way.