Chael Sonnen is inherently brilliant.
No matter what you think of the man, you can’t deny that his antics have been the most successful attention-gathering ploys in the history of the UFC.
Sonnen’s first fight with Anderson Silva was the most anticipated middleweight title fight in UFC history almost entirely due to the fact that Sonnen hyped the hell out of the fight with trash talk and pro wrestling-like promos.
Now, his rematch with Silva is reaching epic proportions of promotion by the UFC, and amazement by the fans.
This fight will be huge, bigger than huge, enormous, titanic—BIG.
Not bad for a UFC washout, right?
You read it properly, Sonnen was a UFC washout. He first fought for the UFC in 2005, went 1-2 in the promotion and was subsequently released.
Afterwards, he fought in Bodog to no fanfare, and why would there be? He was just another wannabe who couldn’t make it in the big leagues and that was all he was ever going to be, or so it seemed.
Sonnen eventually made his way to the Zuffa-owned WEC, where he was given a WEC middlweight title shot against Paulo Filho but lost by armbar. Again, who would think this guy would become a figure of legendary proportions?
Filho and Sonnen fought again but this time not for the WEC middleweight title: Filho failed to make weight for the contest which meant that the title wasn’t up for grabs. Sonnen won a decision victory in one of the most bizarre fights to ever take place under the Zuffa umbrella.
His victory earned him a place in the UFC, where he was matched up with Demian Maia and was flattened in just over two minutes, losing via submission for the seventh time in his career.
Things began to change after this fight. Sonnen put together three impressive victories over solid competitors in Dan Miller, Yushin Okami and Nate Marquardt. It was after the Marquardt victory that fans really started to pay attention to Sonnen.
Why did they pay attention?
Because he had been talking—a lot, specifically after his fight with Marquardt where he was involved in a post-fight media scrum where he said numerous provocative statements.
And then the floodgates opened.
Sonnen kept piling on the trash talk, and piling on the trash talk and piling on the trash talk until his looming fight was Silva was bigger than anything in the MMA world at the time.
But it wasn’t just hype. When the fight took place, Sonnen beat Silva from pillar to post for the majority of the fight before succumbing to a triangle-armbar late in the fifth round.
Unfortunately for Sonnen, his performance was mired by testing positive for elevated testosterone levels.
Nevertheless, his aura persisted through his suspension and when he returned it was to much clamor. He continued his typical assault against Silva whilst dispatching the high-level middleweights Brian Stann and Michael Bisping.
Silva vs. Sonnen II was set up after Sonnen’s victories and after Silva defended his belt against Vitor Belfort and Yushin Okami.
There is a little less trash talk this time around, but that doesn’t make the fight any less anticipated because what’s said has already been said. Now it’s time to put up or shut up, time to find out who the better man is.
No matter who wins, Chael Sonnen has secured a place in UFC history through his antics.
Sonnen went from an unknown who was 1-2 in the UFC to a man who’s fighting for the UFC Middleweight Championship against arguably the greatest fighter of all time in the match of the year, if not the match of the decade—all through clever marketing and his own wits.
What fighter in the UFC can claim to be more brilliant than that?
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