After some recent controversy, all signs pointed to UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen being in Yushin Okami’s corner when he had his title shot against Anderson Silva at UFC 134.
However, it looks like Sonnen’s plane ticket to Rio will go to waste.
MMA Junkie spoke with an unnamed source,whom had knowledge regarding the Praetorian, a Brazil-based MMA brand which is one of Okami’s sponsors.
The source, who spoke under the condition of anonymity, said that if Sonnen attended, the Praetorian would discontinue its sponsorship of Okami.
“There’s a line of people that want to kick his ass,” the source said, when explaining the rationalization behind the decision.
While that piece of news is not all that shocking, many will agree that the next piece of information is.
According to MMA Junkie, friends of Sonnen over in Brazil brought the Team Quest standout’s attention to a local media report.
“A police chief threatened to arrest him on sight if he showed. The official cited a law that makes disparaging the national identity a crime,” MMA Junkie reported.
Sonnen retaliated by saying “You don’t have freedom of speech in Brazil; put it like that.”
Brazil based MMA manager Alex Davis refuted the police chief’s claim, stating that:
“Brazilian authorities would not arrest Sonnen for anything he said. They would defend him. But he is talking about people that a whole generation of fighters worship.”
Sonnen has reserved his verbal war of words against Brazilian fighters, for the most part, to team Black House members including Lyoto Machida, the Nogueira brothers, featherweight champ Jose Aldo and of course reigning middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
Despite not being able to support his friend and training partner in person, Sonnen has shown no problem backing away from the situation given the circumstances.
“I only want to be there to help him,” Sonnen said.
“I don’t need to see the show. I can watch the show on TV. I was going exclusively in support of Yushin, and frankly, it’s been headed this way for a long time. It’s been headed the direction of, ‘Hey, this is becoming a distraction.”
Sonnen then acknowledged that August 27 is Okami’s time to shine, not his.
“This fight isn’t about me. I’m not involved. I’m here to lend you support. But I don’t want things thrown at what will unintentionally be him while he’s in the ring or we’re going to the ring. This is serious business. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s not my place to disturb it or shift any type of attention to me. This is his moment, his night, his time to be the world champ.”
The only man who has given Anderson Silva a run for his money in years, Sonnen has a chance to earn another title shot with a win over Brian Stann at UFC 136.
However, a recent report indicates that Sonnen could be pulled from UFC 136 in favor of a rematch with Silva on November 12, the UFC’s first event on Fox.
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