Tag: chaelsonnen

A Journey Into the Mind of Chael Sonnen

Filed under: UFCHOUSTON — I am supposed to write something about Chael Sonnen. I know this. I keep reminding myself of it. But nothing comes.

It is not writer’s block. I am simply confused by him. This is not a shocker. Sonnen is a bright guy, but he…

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Chael SonnenHOUSTON — I am supposed to write something about Chael Sonnen. I know this. I keep reminding myself of it. But nothing comes.

It is not writer’s block. I am simply confused by him. This is not a shocker. Sonnen is a bright guy, but he says lots of things, many of which are not compatible with others. He says things that are funny, if not always 100 percent true. But mostly, he says things with feeling. And feelings are hard to quantify in words.

This is a hard fight for him, you can tell.

First, there is a lot at stake. Sonnen has blood, sweat and tears invested into this matchup, not for what it is, but what it could be. He needs another chance to fight Anderson Silva, that much is obvious. And the only way to get there is by winning at UFC 136.

Second, he likes Brian Stann. For real. He was at Stann’s first fight back in 2006. Sonnen was the ringside announcer, and Stann fought his teammate Aaron Stark. Sonnen had trained with Stark long enough to know how good he was. And Stann ran through him. That memory stuck. Stann later came out to train with Sonnen and the Team Quest guys for a while. There is a tangible friendship there. When they got approached about the fight, Sonnen reached out to Stann. Let’s do it, they both decided.

Third, he’s been away. He got put in the corner. And training for the future isn’t the same as training for a fight, he says. He believes in ring rust, he says. He’s not excited about fighting, he says.

Chael Sonnen says these things and he sounds something we haven’t heard before. He sounds vulnerable.

This is crazy, I think to myself. I have been covering MMA for several years now, and yet somehow, I had never crossed paths with Sonnen in person before this week. Like most of you, I’ve seen him evolve into a soundbyte-machine, and I came to town expecting that Chael.

He didn’t disappoint, but the trademark brashness wasn’t there.

On Thursday, I asked Sonnen how he expects to be received by the crowd. And at first he gave a political answer.

“I only ask the crowd to do two things: be present and be loud,” he said.

But then, he went on.

“When I’m a fan, I show up to boo,” he said. “I don’t show up to cheer, I show up to heckle. So what comes around, goes around, and I fully expect it.”

OK, fair enough, but what about the fight? Well, Sonnen couldn’t even bring himself to say he would beat Stann on Saturday. This from the man who called Anderson Silva a “fraud” before facing him. This from the man who said he was going to “throw [Silva] on his back and beat a hole in his face.”

Here’s what he said this time around: “Brian can beat me, and I can beat him. I like those odds, 50-50, and it doesn’t matter either way. Either way, you’ve got to move forward.”

I didn’t know what to make of it. Sure, it’s an honest answer, but isn’t a fighter supposed to believe 100 percent he is going to win? I mean, this is Chael Sonnen?

Maybe it really is Sonnen being vulnerable, and at his most candid. There is no way you can tell for sure. But there is no way you can go through what he went through — problems that resulted in a suspension from his fight career and a legal conviction in his personal life — and walk away unscathed.

Sonnen admitted as much this week, saying that he did have doubts about this whole return.

“What fun would this be if you knew the outcome?” he said. “What fun would this be if it wasn’t all on the line? That’s how I want it. I love dealing with that adversity. I love going to the ring hurt or sick or tired and trying to figure out how to win anyway. That’s just the way it goes. I saw the ride and bought the ticket anyway. So I’m on board for it. I don’t care.”

This week, the brashness was muted and the honesty was turned up. That struck me. It’s almost like he was bracing himself. Or maybe the wound is still open. Or maybe I’m reading too much into it. But Sonnen has something to prove, and his mouth can’t do it.

Less than two years ago, Sonnen said that he wanted to be “king of the mountain,” otherwise, he said, he’d move on in life. He is 15 minutes away from another crack at Anderson SIlva. He is also 15 minutes away from sliding back down the mountain. And even for someone who is known for his wit and humor, that, my friends, is a heavy situation.

 

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Nate Marquardt Incident Highlights Need for Comprehensive HRT Policy in MMA

Filed under: UFCIf you have to do a live interview where you answer questions about the testosterone injections that cost you your job — and, ideally, you’d probably rather avoid that situation altogether if possible — the way Nate Marquardt did it i…

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If you have to do a live interview where you answer questions about the testosterone injections that cost you your job — and, ideally, you’d probably rather avoid that situation altogether if possible — the way Nate Marquardt did it is probably the best way.

In his interview with Ariel Helwani on Tuesday’s edition of The MMA Hour, Marquardt was open and direct about his hormone replacement therapy (HRT, if you’re down with the lingo). He explained what he did, when he did it, and why. He appeared emotional, vulnerable, and — as far as we could tell — honest.

Even the people who wanted to string him up the moment they heard UFC president Dana White say he was “disgusted” with Marquardt must have at least considered putting down the torches and pitchforks when they heard his side of it.

But even with all the questions Marquardt answered in the hour-long interview, the one that still bugs me is the one we may never be able to pin down: does any of this make Marquardt a cheater, or does it simply make him unlucky?

At least in the eyes of the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission, receiving testosterone injections is not, in and of itself, cheating. If you can prove (to the satisfaction of the commission) that you need it, and if you can make sure your hormone levels fall within a pre-determined range by the day before the fight, it’s really no problem at all.

In fact, if Marquardt had managed to hit that range — and by all accounts, he just missed it — the fight would have gone on, he’d still have a job, and none of us would have ever known that he was getting a little hormonal help on the side.

If that’s the case, then the difference between illegally using performance-enhancing drugs and competing entirely on the up-and-up is a matter of degrees. It’s a difference of a few nanograms per deciliter. It’s less about what you’re doing, and more about how much of it you’re doing.

Marquardt knew those were the rules when he decided to play this particular game, and now he’s suffering the consequences of failing to abide by them. But maybe what we should really be asking is if these rules are all that fair to begin with.

There’s a reason you can’t compete with too much testosterone in your system. It’s a performance-enhancing drug. It’s one that the body produces naturally, but it’s also a powerful substance than can change your whole personality in the right (or, depending on the personality you started with, wrong) doses.

In fact, that’s one of the reasons Marquardt said he needed it. He was tired and grumpy all the time, to the point where his wife didn’t want to be around him, he said. So he went to the doctor, got a prescription for testosterone, and presto chango, he’s a changed man. No more fatigue. No more irritability. Just full speed ahead.

That, by definition, makes it a performance-enhancer. But it doesn’t make it cheating, apparently. Not unless you do just a tad too much of it, and then it’s scorched earth for you, my friend. Then you’re pulled from the main event, fired from your job, and verbally blasted on national TV by your boss, who will claim to be “disgusted” by you for engaging in a practice that he was totally fine with just a few months ago, and would have been totally fine with again if only your hormone levels had dropped just a wee bit faster.

Am I the only who feels like this makes absolutely no sense?

The problem with hormone replacement therapy for pro fighters is that athletic commissions haven’t really made up their minds about it yet. That much was clear when Chael Sonnen went before the California State Athletic Commission to make his case for an after-the-fact therapeutic-use exemption for testosterone.

The commission agreed that firmer, more coherent policies on HRT were absolutely necessary, then it took no clear action to make any of that happen. Instead, it decided that Sonnen had failed to give proper notice to the right people at the right times. It nailed him on a paperwork issue, more or less. As for whether he should have been mainlining testosterone to begin with? That one they weren’t about to touch.

The fact that Sonnen was still being offered an Ultimate Fighter coaching job after that incident while Marquardt and his camp got to find out via Twitter that he’d been fired from the UFC altogether, that tells us where the UFC’s concern really lies in this discussion.

If you get in trouble after an event — that is, after the UFC has already made its money off you — then your hormones are your problem. The fines, the suspensions, that’s between you and the athletic commission once the fight’s over.

But if those same exact hormones get you pulled from a main event the day before it’s supposed to go down — that is, after the UFC has done the work of promoting the fight but before it has reaped the lion’s share of the profits — then brother, look out. Then it won’t matter that you told the UFC about it months beforehand, or that you tried to go about it in the most transparent possible way.

If that’s how the UFC wants to play it, that’s the UFC’s choice. Whenever the issue of drug testing comes up, it can — and usually will — step back and let the commissions take the flack. It will also make its hiring and firing decisions based on financial considerations first, and everything else a distant second.

But while the UFC’s main concern is profit, the commissions are supposed to be the ones ensuring fairness. Right now the commissions seem to think that letting one fighter artificially raise his natural testosterone levels is fair — as long as he gets a doctor’s note first, and as long as he keeps those levels below at a certain point.

Whether that’s a version of fair play we agree with, or one we truly want to hold our athletes to, that’s something this sport has yet to decide.

 

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MMA Top 10 Middleweights: Mark Munoz Rises

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, MiddleweightsCould Mark Munoz be a future contender to Anderson Silva’s middleweight title? That’s a question few people would have asked before UFC 131. But after Munoz beat Demian Maia, it’s a serious question…

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Could Mark Munoz be a future contender to Anderson Silva‘s middleweight title? That’s a question few people would have asked before UFC 131. But after Munoz beat Demian Maia, it’s a serious question.

After defeating Maia, Munoz is 6-1 since moving down to middleweight, with the only loss coming by split decision to Yushin Okami, the UFC‘s current No. 1 middleweight contender. Munoz is probably only one more win away from being the UFC’s best option to fight Silva, assuming Silva beats Okami.

Munoz would be a huge underdog to Silva, of course, but every middleweight is a huge underdog to Silva. And Munoz, a former NCAA champion wrestler, at least has the tools to threaten Silva where he’s weakest. Munoz and Silva are friends and training partners, and they might not wish to fight each other. But if both of them win their next fights, we could be heading toward a situation where fighting each other is what the UFC asks them to do.

See where I have Munoz ranked among the middleweights in MMA below.

(Editor’s note: The individual fighter’s ranking the last time we did middleweights are in parentheses.)

1. Anderson Silva (1): The last time Silva lost, it was by disqualification when he illegally kicked Okami in the head on the ground. Since then Silva is 14-0, with half of those wins coming by first round knockout or technical knockout.

2. Chael Sonnen (2): Sonnen still deserves to be ranked No. 2 because of his impressive win over Okami and his tough fight with Silva, but soon he’s going to start dropping because of inactivity. There doesn’t seem to be any end in sight for Sonnen’s problems getting an athletic commission to license him.

3. Vitor Belfort (3): Belfort’s 19-9 record really doesn’t do his career justice, as the nine losses are to a who’s who of great fighters: He’s lost to Randy Couture twice, Alistair Overeem twice and Kazushi Sakuraba, Chuck Liddell, Tito Ortiz, Dan Henderson and Anderson Silva. Up next for Belfort is Yoshihiro Akiyama.

4. Yushin Okami (4): Although Okami does technically have a victory over Silva on his record, Silva was getting the better of Okami before he was disqualified for the illegal kick. If Okami can beat Silva in their August rematch in Rio, it would probably be the biggest upset of the year in MMA.

5. Mark Munoz (NR): Getting knocked cold by Matt Hamill might have been the best thing to ever happen to Munoz. That fight made him decide to move down from 205 pounds to 185, and he’s much more impressive at the lighter weight.

6. Demian Maia (5): The Maia-Munoz fight could have gone either way, and even in defeat Maia showed that his striking is continuing to improve. However, the fight also showed that Maia can’t just submit anyone he gets to the ground. In his first five UFC fights Maia submitted all five opponents, but in his last six fights he hasn’t submitted anyone.

7. Brian Stann (6): A matchup between Stann and Munoz would make a lot of sense as a next step for the UFC, and the winner would have a strong case for being the next No. 1 contender in the middleweight division.

8. Ronaldo Souza (7): Jacare, the Strikeforce middleweight champion, will defend his title against Luke Rockhold in September. Rockhold is 7-1, and all seven wins are by first-round stoppage, but he’s not on the same level as Jacare, who should be able to make Rockhold tap.

9. Wanderlei Silva (8): The soon-to-be 35-year-old Silva isn’t the fighter he once was, but his UFC 132 fight with Chris Leben promises to be an all-out war. And if he wins in spectacular fashion, it’s possible that the Axe Murderer could get the next shot at the middleweight belt.

10. Michael Bisping (10): With no UFC events in England this year, Bisping will not have any fights in his homeland for the first year since 2006, when he was an Ultimate Fighter contestant. Instead Bisping will coach on The Ultimate Fighter and take on Jason “Mayhem” Miller in December.

 

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CSAC Clarifies Ruling, Says Sonnen Won’t Have to Wait a Year to Reapply

Filed under: UFCThe California State Athletic Commission made a mistake with regards to Chael Sonnen’s licensing status, and as a result the fighter might not have to sit out an entire year before he can reapply for a fighter’s license in the Golden St…

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The California State Athletic Commission made a mistake with regards to Chael Sonnen‘s licensing status, and as a result the fighter might not have to sit out an entire year before he can reapply for a fighter’s license in the Golden State, according to a report from ESPN.com.

CSAC executive officer George Dodd admitted the error to Josh Gross, saying he had misinterpreted the application of rule 399, which would have required Sonnen to wait a full year between licensing applications.

But since the commission had voted merely to uphold Sonnen’s suspension rather than to revoke or deny his license, that rule does not apply, Dodd said.

“That’s what we came up with,” Dodd told ESPN. “That’s why I needed to go out there with this and set the record straight that he can apply after June 29, after his license does expire, because that’s the legal jurisdiction we have to the end.

“Rule 399 was treated as almost a revocation or denial, but you can’t do that.

“I’m the one that put it out there and the error of putting it out there rests solely on me, but we’re going to correct the situation as we should.”

So what does it mean for Sonnen’s fighting future? For one thing, he can reapply for a license when his current one expires on June 29, 2011.

Of course, there’s no guarantee that the commission will grant him a license then, and if he is rejected at that time then he will have to wait a year before he can reapply.

As Dodd told MMA Fighting last week, “rehabilitation” is one of the primary criteria the CSAC will judge Sonnen’s future licensing applications on.

“[Sonnen] is going to have to show that he’s done something to promote the sport, promote goodwill,” Dodd said. “He does a lot of good things already. He talks to kids and stuff like that about making right decisions. But he’s going to have to show that he’s making the right decisions as well. You can say it, but you have to make those decisions yourself.”

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CSAC: Chael Sonnen Can’t Reapply for License Until May 2012

Filed under: UFC, NewsNow that the California State Athletic Commission has voted to uphold Chael Sonnen’s indefinite suspension, the UFC middleweight will have a long wait before he gets another day in court.

CSAC executive officer George Dodd told M…

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Now that the California State Athletic Commission has voted to uphold Chael Sonnen‘s indefinite suspension, the UFC middleweight will have a long wait before he gets another day in court.

CSAC executive officer George Dodd told MMA Fighting on Thursday that the soonest Sonnen could reapply for a fighter’s license is May of 2012, though he could apply for a second’s license to corner other fighters sooner.

“One of our rules, in our Title IV [of the California Code of Regulations], stipulates that you have to wait one year after an appeal of your suspension or revocation of license. And since he appealed this [on May 18, 2011], it’s one year from the day of denial.”

In other words, Sonnen will either have to sit the next twelve months out or else try and get a license to fight in another commission’s jurisdiction. That most likely rules out Nevada, but several other states – not to mention the U.K., Europe, and Japan – would still remain viable options.

That is, if the UFC is willing to promote a fighter who is still officially denied a license from a major commission like California.

If and when Sonnen does reapply for a license in the Golden State, Dodd said, he would have to show the commission proof of his rehabilitation, much like Josh Barnett was asked to do in his recent CSAC hearing.

“[Sonnen] is going to have to show that he’s done something to promote the sport, promote goodwill,” Dodd said. “He does a lot of good things already. He talks to kids and stuff like that about making right decisions. But he’s going to have to show that he’s making the right decisions as well. You can say it, but you have to make those decisions yourself.”

As for Sonnen’s use of testosterone, Dodd said a therapeutic use exemption is still not out of the question, but the fighter would have to go through the proper channels first.

“What would happen is he would…request it through the athletic commission. The commission would probably request that the medical advisory committee review it. The medical advisory committee would review it and then make a recommendation back to the commission whether or not to approve or disapprove.”

Wednesday’s hearing was not about whether Sonnen was or was not in need of the testosterone injections at the time of his fight with UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva at UFC 117 last August, Dodd said.

Instead, it was about Sonnen’s misrepresentation of conversations he claimed to have had about that testosterone use with the Nevada State Athletic Commission. Ultimately, the commission found his explanations of those past statements unconvincing.

“That is true,” Dodd said. “That’s why we never brought up more about what happened back then. We didn’t. I didn’t testify because there was nothing I could testify to that would give it more cause aside from what was already said.”

At Wednesday’s hearing Sonnen told the CSAC that conversations with UFC president Dana White had led him to believe he would be “effectively retired” if he wasn’t relicensed this week. As of yet, there is no official word on what the UFC plans to do with regards to Sonnen’s future in the organization.

 

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Michael Bisping Discusses Chael Sonnen’s Suspension, What’s Next

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, NewsWednesday’s news that Chael Sonnen’s suspension was upheld by the California State Athletic Commission will most likely ruin any chance of seeing Sonnen fight Michael Bisping in the near future.

That’s a fig…

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Wednesday’s news that Chael Sonnen‘s suspension was upheld by the California State Athletic Commission will most likely ruin any chance of seeing Sonnen fight Michael Bisping in the near future.

That’s a fight many MMA fans were looking forward to, including both Sonnen and Bisping.

Sonnen was unavailable for comment on Wednesday, but Bisping shared his thoughts with MMA Fighting on Sonnen’s suspension and what’s next for him.

Ariel Helwani: What’s your reaction to Wednesday’s news about Chael Sonnen?
Michael Bisping: I’m disappointed. I’ve been sitting on the sidelines for a while now and I think pretty much everybody can work out that I was hoping to fight Chael Sonnen, and we were waiting to hear if he was going to clear up his personal problems. Obviously today we found out that he’s been indefinitely suspended.

It’s a shame for the guy. I really do feel for him. We’re all human beings; we all make mistakes. He’s being punished, and OK, he’s made some very, very bad decisions lately, but no one’s perfect — I’m certainly not perfect — and I feel for the guy. By the sounds of it, he’s stuffed in his career as a realtor and he’s also screwed as an MMA fighter at the moment. He’s an exciting fighter, and I think it’s a shame for him; it’s a shame for mixed martial arts.

What do you think you’ll do next then?
Well, I’ll probably go to bed in the next few minutes (laughs). Then after that, I’m sitting by the phone, waiting for a call from the UFC. I’m very, very eager to know when I’m going to fight again or whether I’m going to coach The Ultimate Fighter. I’m not sure what’s happening, but I’m very, very eager. I still have been training for a while. I love to fight and I can’t wait to fight again.

Did the UFC tell you about any other plans they had for you in case Sonnen’s suspension was upheld?
No, they didn’t. I’ll be honest, I haven’t actually spoken to the UFC. My manager actually spoke to the UFC about all of this, and I’ve just been waiting on the sidelines waiting for this to clear up. I knew there was a little red tape to go through and today we have the combination of all that. It’s a shame for Chael Sonnen, it’s a shame for the fans, and all in all, a bad turn of events. And for me as well, it was a big opportunity. You know, Chael Sonnen, a fight with him would have been a big deal for me and a No. 1 contender fight, so obviously, I’m disappointed as well, but yeah, I’m not sure what is going to happen now.

Are you still interested in coaching TUF without Sonnen?
Yeah, absolutely. The Ultimate Fighter did fantastic things for me as a fighter and my career. If it weren’t for The Ultimate Fighter, it’s possible we might not be having this conversation now. So, I’m very grateful for my time on The Ultimate Fighter as a contestant and as a coach. So if the UFC were graceful enough to give me another shot on the show, then who am I to turn it down? The UFC have been the best employees a man can ever wish for. If that’s what they want me to do, then I’m their man.

It feels like every other day someone is calling you out. So now that it looks like you won’t be fighting Sonnen, who do you want to fight next?
I did fancy a fight with Nate Marquardt, but to be honest, the fight that I really wanted more than anything, and I said straight after the Jorge Rivera fight, and that was before any of the rumors of The Ultimate Fighter started, I wanted to fight Chael Sonnen. I think I’ve paid my dues, I’ve proved who I am as a fighter and my skills, and I wanted to fight for the title. Chael Sonnen was ranked No. 2 and that’s the guy who I wanted to fight. Not only because of that, I mean, the guy certainly does bring a lot of hype to a fight rightly or wrongly, and I thought the guy used to be hilarious in his pre-fight trash-talk. So I wanted to fight him. Other than that, I haven’t really given too much thought about it. As I said, Nate Marquardt, but he dropped down to 170.

Yeah, you’re right, there’s a bunch of guys who have been calling me out. They’re all just jumping on the bandwagon and trying to get a name for themselves. It seems popular to talk sh** about me. They can all go f**k themselves as far as I’m concerned. If they’ve got a problem with me, come and say it to my face, as opposed to over the Internet like a f**king spineless a**hole. But we’re talking from middleweight to lightweight to heavyweight, I’ll fight anyone of those guys. I try to keep it professional. You never see me calling guys out on the Internet. You’ve never seen me once call a guy out on the Internet or on my Web site or via Twitter. But people say I’m the a**hole.

Who do I want to fight? I don’t know, anyone that is going to get me closer to a title shot.

I noticed Tim Kennedy called you out via Twitter on Tuesday. Where did that come from?
It’s completely weird. He actually sent me a Tweet. It was directed to me, @bisping, ‘Bisping you’re an a**hole,’ or something, ‘You disrespected the sport and Jorge Rivera for the illegal knee.’ Normally, I never, ever respond to negative Tweets because, you know, all you’re doing is confirming to this person that you’ve actually read it and it may have gotten to you, so I never usually respond. But on this occasion, I thought, Here you’ve got another fellow professional of the sport that should know better, and he’s directing it at me. I’ve never met the guy, he doesn’t even fight in the UFC, and I just said, You know what, Tim Kennedy? Go f**k yourself. You’ve missed the train. That bandwagon left two months ago. I don’t know what his problem is. Again, he’s another one in a long list of people who’s trying to make a name off my back.

If you were to guess, when do you think we will see you fight again?
If I was to guess, for me, I’m training hard right now. Obviously, it’s been a few months since the fight, so I’ve gained a few extra pounds but nothing too crazy. I’m not as fat as I have been at some stages, but I want to fight as soon as possible. I’m a fighter, this is what I do. I’ve literally been crawling the walls since my last fight. I’ve been doing my best to maintain my fitness and improve my skills and stay in shape, but without a fight lined up, it’s been pretty hard. It’s hard to maintain motivation.

This is what I do. I truly love the sport and I’m a student of the game. Without a fight lined up it has been hard. So for me, ASAP. If the UFC were to call me up and say, We’ve got a fight for you in the next few weeks, I would be very happy. But I couldn’t put a time as of right now.

 

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