Just days removed from his UFC 148 rematch with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, you would think that Chael Sonnen—considered by many to be the funniest man in MMA today—has no time for jokes.
Guess again.
In an excellent piece of satire, Sonnen starts the interview off giving no sign that he might be making a joke.
“I don’t know that I’m a ‘self-proclaimed’ gangster. I’m from the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon, and I’ve seen things and been through things that somebody like you, in your little pearly loft, couldn’t even relate to,” said Sonnen.
In fact, Sonnen seems emotional at first, as if he is going to share some dark stories from his childhood with the interviewer.
“If you’re asking me to share stories with you, that are frankly none of your business, maybe I’ll give you a couple and maybe you’ll take that little smug look off your face.”
Here’s were Sonnen busts out some hard-hitting details about how tough his upbringing was, right?
Not exactly.
This is where the feel of the interview begins to change and, though he remains staunch in his demeanor, Sonnen begins to let the audience in on the joke.
“I can date back to when I was 11-years-old. I’m minding my own business and I’m in a park. This guy, a stranger to me, takes a piece of gum out of his pocket. He puts it in his mouth and then he just throws the wrapper on the ground. He publicly litters. And I saw that! I had to see these things at a young age. Sure somebody came along, picked it up, and threw it in a trash can, but for the few moments where that sat on the ground and the law was violated in my neighborhood…”
Though many of the commenters on YouTube missed it, Sonnen is kidding around at this point. From there, Sonnen built on the joke, providing more and more ridiculous examples of the “hard knocks” he experienced growing up.
“We have chaos. We have anarchy at times in West Linn. There was years when my father didn’t even make a-hundred-grand—or barely made a-hundred-grand—and sure we had a maid, but she only came twice a week. What do you think happened the other five days? You think those dishes washed themselves? You think those clothes got themselves in the hamper?”
Given that Sonnen has no background in performance arts, his acting in this video is impressive. Though the words he’s saying make the joke clear, he doesn’t once break character.
Tune into UFC 148 this Saturday to see Sonnen and Silva try to live up to their first legendary fight back at UFC 117, in what many consider the biggest rematch in UFC history.
And stay tuned to Bleacher Report for everything UFC 148.
Andrew Barr is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report and a stand-up comedian.Check him out on Twitter @AndrewBarr8.
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