When Chael Sonnen was enjoying life as one of mixed martial arts’ most prominent stars, the term ‘money fight’ was an unused label. The multi-time UFC title challenger has just finished serving out a two-year suspension handed down from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), and it’s safe to say that the current state of the sport is quite different from the one in which “The American Gangster” left in 2014, which is why his return is so intriguing.
Sonnen shockingly announced last week that he would be coming out of retirement and that he had signed with Bellator MMA. Speaking on a conference call late last week, he said that he was making his return because he was angry at the current landscape of MMA. “The American Gangster” doesn’t seem to like the idea of ‘money fights’, saying that combatants either want to fight or they don’t:
“You either want to fight or you don’t, and one of my main motivations for coming back is pure anger,” Sonnen said. “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.’”
At the end of the day, Sonnen simply said that he wants to fight:
“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.”
“The American Gangster” last competed in 2013, suffering a brutal stoppage loss to Rashad Evans. His Bellator debut has not been set, but he has showed interest in fighting former UFC titleholder Tito Ortiz in November.
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