(And just like that, the inspiration for Mean Street Hair Care & Boutique was born.)
For a dead man walking, Chael Sonnen sure seems to be enjoying the hell out of his final days on death row. The UFC’s favorite hypeman appeared on ESPN’s flagship program, Sportscenter, just hours ago to plug his upcoming public execution at UFC 159 and appeared to be channeling the great Bobby Knight during his brief interview, leaving Sportscenter anchor (and all around fox) Sage Steele grasping at straws in attempt to steer things in any other direction but that of a complete farce. She tried, dammit.
The segment began in typical Sonnen-fashion – interrupting/patronizing the interviewer, throwing a couple WWE-esque threats at Jones, arms, charms, rinse, repeat — but quickly took a turn for what people in the television industry refer to as “What-the-fucks-ville” after Sonnen promised to put Bones “on his ass” on live television. Sure, it was a pretty mild offense given the current spectrum of television, but the remark incurred the subtle wrath of Steele nonetheless. But if there’s one thing Chael P. Sonnen doesn’t understand, it’s subtlety. And being that Chael is mere days away from being beaten into a coma at best, he figured he might as well check off one last item from his bucket list: feeling an African American woman’s hair. It was a weird moment for everyone involved.
Video after the jump.
Now that’s how you go out on a high note, ladies and gentlemen.
As you would expect, some of the more politically correct websites out there (by which I mean the overly sensitive, soapbox-hopping ones that love to throw gas on the smallest of fires) are attempting to turn Sonnen’s awkward but completely harmless interview into some sort of racist diatribe. Thankfully, Steele recently commented on the incident via Big Lead Sports, and aside from finding the whole thing rather odd, stated that she could not have been less offended:
It was definitely one of the more awkward interviews I’ve done – the first and hopefully last time I’ve had some ask to touch my hair – but it’s not like anything could mess it up more than it already is! I’ve met Chael before and knew going in that he was a wild man. You just have to know your subject. He’s a character … I think he’s hysterical and totally harmless
You can find the full video of Sonnen’s interview here. Personally, I still found it to be leagues below any of Jon Jones’ Sportscenter interviews in terms of awkwardness. That dude could have Neil Hamburger faking an urgent cell-phone call to get out of the room.
That’s it for me, everybody!