“Winning”
Remember when Charlie Sheen unleashed a fury of ill-advised tweets, comedy tours, videos, and interviews when he was fired from Two and a Half Men? He immediately grabbed national headlines and saw his popularity rise to even greater heights than before he was fired.
Unfortunately for Sheen, he didn’t know when to stop. What people thought was intriguing and funny turned out to be obnoxious and tired. His act went on for too long and everyone became burnt out.
The same thing happened to swing dancing in the 90’s, wallet chains, “Mambo Number Five”, Panic at the Disco, and it appears we are thankfully reaching the end of the life span of “Gangnam Style”— which will undoubtedly reach its demise once we see people dress up as PSY for Halloween.
I’d hate to see Chael Sonnen go down the same path with MMA fans, but an entire season of seeing him continually take cheap shots at Jon Jones may do more harm than good for the calculated speaker.
Sonnen and Jones will serve as opposing coaches on the next installment of The Ultimate Fighter. According to the Los Angeles Times, the show will begin taping this week and the two will fight each other in April.
Jones saw his reputation take a nose dive this year and fans have been quick to paint him as a villain. I believe the upcoming TUF show starring him and Sonnen will do more good for Jones than it will for Sonnen.
I’m a fan of Sonnen. I enjoy his charisma, intellect, and the competitive fights he puts on as long as he doesn’t try a spinning back-fist. He brings an element to MMA that helps balance out the seriousness of the sport. Sonnen is a character, and I mean that as a compliment. He’s more than a fighter, he’s somebody people look forward to hearing speak and he does a wonderful job as a commentator.
But does he know when enough is enough?
I anticipate Jones to take a passive approach to Sonnen on the show. Jones is going to be portrayed as a good coach who cares about his team, whereas Sonnen will be projected as the antagonist who will bring his comedic values to the table but end up seeing his intentions turned against him.
Call me crazy, I’ve been called a lot worse, but I expect that the majority of hardcore fans will be looking forward to seeing Jones punish Sonnen in the Octagon for the verbal beating he is going to endure during the course of the show.
This may be the way the UFC puts Jones back in good graces with the fans. It will be interesting to see how the show is edited, as we’ve all seen how much that can influence the emotions of an audience.
It would be one thing if Sonnen was riding a winning streak heading into the taping of the show and his fight with Jones. He’s not, and that makes his trash-talking towards Jones come across as desperate.
Sonnen‘s words provide a high entertainment value, but as Charlie Sheen showed us, he has to be careful not to overstay his welcome.
Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com