Is UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen in the same class as boxing legend Muhammad Ali? According to UFC president Dana White, Sonnen is on par with Ali when it comes to hyping fights.
“(I’ve never seen) even anywhere near him,” White told HeavyMMA in reference to Sonnen’s skills on the microphone. “Seriously – and everybody’s going to go crazy over this – but I’ve never seen anyone who can talk like this guy can since Muhammad Ali.”
White had no problem elaborating on why he thought Sonnen’s trash talk is classic. “Seriously. Since Muhammad Ali – the stuff that just comes right off the top of his head, and is hilarious,” White said. “And you don’t know what’s real and what’s not real.”
The Team Quest standout will take on fellow middleweight contender Mark Munoz at UFC on Fox 2, scheduled for January 28th, with the winner expected to take on 185-pound champion Anderson Silva.
The catch is that the title fight would more than likely take place in Brazil.
Should Sonnen get past “The Filipino Wrecking Machine,” White realizes that Uncle Chael has not made a lot of friends over there due to his ongoing feuds with a number of Brazilian fighters.
“We’ve already started worrying about security for him,” White said. “We will have presidential-type security down there for him. The biggest fear would be should Chael win that night, we’d have to dig a tunnel underneath the Octagon (to get him out).”
Love him or hate him, Sonnen has quickly built up a reputation as one of the most captivating personalities in the sport, so a rematch with his arch nemesis Anderson Silva would certainly sell huge regardless of what venue it is held in.
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