Almost exactly a year ago, MMA fans will probably recall a radio interview with Larry Pepe of MMA Radio where a caller accused Lance Armstrong of giving himself cancer due to steroid use.
When Sonnen appeared on ESPN correspondent Jim Rome’s radio show a few days later, he vehemently denied that he was the one who made the call, stating that it sounds like “a guy with a Hispanic accent” who called into Pepe’s show.
For those who can’t exactly recall the comments in question, the quote reads as follows:
“Lance Armstrong did a number of things, and he gave himself cancer. He cheated, he did drugs, and he gave himself cancer. Well, instead of saying ‘Hey listen, I cheated and gave myself cancer.
“’Don’t be like me’ he actually made himself the victim and then went out and profited something like $15 million from this, ‘Hey, poor me, let’s find a cure for cancer’ campaign instead of just coming clean and saying, ‘Look, here’s what I did, I screwed myself up, and I hope people learn from my mistakes.’ ”
Not like it was ever any sort of secret or mystery, but Yahoo! Sports is reporting that at the UFC 133 question and answer Sonnen hosted last week, he finally admitted who made the call about one year ago.
At the UFC 133 weigh-ins, Sonnen happily answered a fan’s question about the 2010 incident.
“Of course it was me,” Sonnen exclaimed.
“Come on, ‘Was it me?’ I’m a genius. That was the single greatest thing I’ve ever done. I’m so proud of that moment, and I’m disappointed that I’ve outed it, because there are actually people out there who don’t think that was me.”
Sonnen gave some context to the situation, as Yahoo explains:
“Sonnen said he had been preparing to fight Silva in a building named after Armstrong on the Nike campus. He said he’d just watched Floyd Landis make comments ripping Armstrong on television the night before he made his comments.”
The always controversial UFC middleweight admitted that Rome’s questioning had caught him off guard and that it actually caused quite an issue with Nike.
“The guys at Nike really think it’s not me,” Sonnen said.
“So, they’ve got this high-tech sound equipment at Nike in something they call ‘The Hive,’ where they make their commercials that are aired throughout the whole world.
“It’s like super high-tech and they’re playing the tape of when I said Lance Armstrong, but I denied that I said it versus when I say something else that has the ‘ah’ of Armstrong.”
“There was a different sound in the ‘a.’ So these major players at Nike start to get involved, and they want to crack this forensic code and clear my name.”
Sonnen, perhaps feeling bad for the trouble he caused, sent a Nike representative a text message saying that he would take the blame in this situation.
“I said, ‘Hey guys, you might want to back off on this,’ because I got roughed up on this one and I’m going to have to take the bump,” Sonnen recalled.
Before he concluded, Sonnen also wanted to take a few moments to talk about his UFC 136 opponent, Brian “The All-American” Stann.
Since the fight was made official, Sonnen has maintained that he likes Stann as a person and respects him as a fighter, and therefore would not engage in any trash talking.
He kept that trend steady here, although his comments were in a rather lighthearted tone.
“Brian Stann is a great guy. I wrote him in and voted for him for the President of the United States in 2008,” Sonnen stated.
“I will write him in again in 2012 and when he becomes the legal age of 35 by 2016, per our constitution, I would hope that you all vote for Brian Stann. He is an outstanding human being.”
Well, at least no one will accuse Sonnen for not having a healthy amount of respect for the former Silver Star recipient and Marine Captain.
As has been the norm recently for Sonnen, he couldn’t resist a pro wrestling reference before he called it a day.
“Look, this isn’t 1984. This isn’t Iron Sheik vs. Sergeant Slaughter. I’m not going to walk to the ring in curled-up boots looking for a camel clutch,” Sonnen assured.
“I’m not the bad guy here. He’s an American. I’m an American, too. He loves the USA. I love the USA, but on Oct. 8 in Houston, Texas, there’s going to be a red, white and blue ***-whipping.”
Sonnen and Stann meet in the co-main event at UFC 136. The event is hosted at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, Texas, on October 8.
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