During a recent Facebook Live Chat, former UFC title contender turned MMA analyst and podcast host Chael Sonnen shared his unfiltered opinion on the ongoing Conor McGregor/UFC situation.
According to Sonnen, McGregor is merely in the midst of negotiating with the UFC, and he picked the wrong guys to “bluff” with what he suspects is a fake retirement threat.
“He might really be done…I don’t know if he wants to be done,” said Sonnen in response to McGregor’s retirement statement on Tuesday. “This was a negotiation tool. But he called the bluff of the wrong guys. These are gamblers man, there’s rules in Vegas. If you say bet you have a bet. I mean that. You go to a casino, you don’t put your money down, you tell the pit boss ‘I want that bet’ if he yells the word bet you have a bet. And it goes both ways. If you win it he’ll pay you…Anytime you go into a negotiation and you call someone’s bluff, man you better mean it because this is what can happen.”
Additionally, Sonnen believes that UFC is “blowing up” the phone of former Welterweight king Georges St-Pierre to potentially replace McGregor at the landmark UFC 200 event, where “The Notorious” one was scheduled to fight Nate Diaz in an immediate rematch at 170 pounds.
“Who’s a good replacement for Conor? I guarantee you Georges St.-Pierre’s phone is blowing up right now and he’s getting a big offer,” said Sonnen. “That’s the guy they’re gonna go after.”
You can watch Sonnen’s complete Facebook video chat above.
UFC 200 is scheduled for Saturday, July 9, 2016 at the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Make sure to join MMANews.con on 7/9 for the best UFC 200 live results coverage on the web!
H/T to MMAFighting.com for transcribing the above quotes.