Chael Sonnen tells a funny story on how his mom used his name to get last minute front row tickets to the UFC.
Chael Sonnen has been part of a lot of combat sports stories throughout his career, and he certainly has the gift of telling them well. One of his better ones lately is actually not about his endeavors in the cage or in the practice room. It’s about the the time his mother used his own connections to score a last minute front row ticket to a UFC title fight.
Watch how the UFC star turned ESPN host tells the funny story below:
My mom using the Sonnen name to get front row seats. Would expect nothing less from the mother of “The American Gangster” pic.twitter.com/HJUwcLhO86
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) May 22, 2019
“Daniel Cormier vs Rumble Johnson part 1,” Sonnen began sharing while hosting on ESPN. “Now my mother has a relationship with Daniel Cormier that goes back over 20 years — which largely just means in passing he has told her ‘hello’ and given her a hug once or twice. She thinks they’re the best of friends.
“My mother is classic, for when I’m going to one of these events, getting with me ahead of time and going ‘I don’t need to see the show. I don’t need a ticket. I would just like to be in the atmosphere, if you don’t mind me tagging along.’ Every single time, I’m calling up Delta Airlines, I’m getting her a ticket, my mom goes to an event,” he continued.
“Then, what does she do?? ‘You know, I would really like to call the event. Would you mind calling Dana and just seeing if he has an extra ticket?’ ‘Mom, the last thing I’m going to do is to call Dana — the day of the show! That is the recipe for having him not take your calls.’ Rule number one: You don’t ask tickets, particularly on the day of the show!
“I tell her ‘no.’ I say ‘Mom, I will buy you a ticket, even on the secondary market. If it costs me a month’s paycheck, I will handle it. Don’t call Dana White,’” he said.
“I go to the other room of the hotel. I put on my suit on. I come out, she’s on my phone! She is holding my telephone and sending a text message. I said ‘Mom, what are you doing?’
“She said ‘well I’m getting a ticket for tonight’s fight. I want to go and support Daniel.’ I’m thinking ‘well, are you on ticketmaster.com? I don’t see your credit card out.’ No! She went to Dana, she went ‘hey, this is Chael’s mom…’ — and sure enough, boom! She’s in, she’s in the front row, watching DC take out Rumble Johnson and win a world championship.”
I don’t know about you guys, but while Chael holds that monicker, this proves that Mrs. Sonnen is actually the real American Gangster.