After the fight, Sonnen launched into a self-aggrandizing monologue that had nothing to do with the battle he just had with Michael Bisping. If it reeked of low-budget wrasslin’ trash, there’s a reason for that. Sonnen was actually doing his own version of a 1975 post-match interview by “Superstar” Billy Graham, from a World Wide Wrestling Federation show. Watch the video above, then watch the video after the jump, and you’ll see what we mean…
After the fight, Sonnen launched into a self-aggrandizing monologue that had nothing to do with the battle he just had with Michael Bisping. If it reeked of low-budget wrasslin’ trash, there’s a reason for that. Sonnen was actually doing his own version of a 1975 post-match interview by “Superstar” Billy Graham, from a World Wide Wrestling Federation show. Watch the video above, then watch the video after the jump, and you’ll see what we mean…
Really, Chael? This is who you’re modeling yourself after? The women’s pet and the men’s regret? Jesus. “As real as it gets,” it ain’t. Sonnen closed out his memorable night with one final bit of bizarre pre-rehearsed trash-talk:
“And all you blowhards with your blow darts can make any threats you want. And I encourage you, follow through on ‘em. Send anybody you like. But don’t send anybody you’d like back.”
As many are aware, WWE champion CM Punk was scheduled to accompany his friend and UFC fighter, Chael Sonnen, to the Octagon on January 28.The upcoming event—the UFC on FOX 2 special—will emanate from Chicago, the hometown of Punk.Given the …
As many are aware, WWE champion CM Punk was scheduled to accompany his friend and UFC fighter, Chael Sonnen, to the Octagon on January 28.
The upcoming event—the UFC on FOX 2 special—will emanate from Chicago, the hometown of Punk.
Given the location, Punk’s presence at the show was to simply show support and rally the crowd behind Sonnen before his bout with Mark Munoz.
In fact, Punk had already gotten approval from the WWE to make the appearance and everyone, especially him, was under the impression it was going to happen.
However, all it took was one man to curtail Punk’s plans to show up at the UFC broadcast—and one is more than enough if your name is Vince McMahon.
According to F4WOnline, McMahon’s refusal to allow CM Punk to attend the show, let alone show his face on FOX TV, came out of the blue:
Dave Meltzer writes about the situation in detail:
It is extremely unlikely that C.M. Punk will be walking Chael Sonnen to the octagon on the 1/28 show in Chicago. Punk, in fact, has been told that he shouldn’t even be at the show. Front Row Brian, a noted poster on message boards including ours, who broke all aspects of this story from the beginning, first noted yesterday that Punk was told by Vince McMahon that he couldn’t walk Sonnen to the ring and that he didn’t want him at the show. Punk also confirmed to Ariel Helwani yesterday that he would not be allowed to walk Sonnen to the ring.
We contacted two people very close to the situation, one who noted that officially nothing was 100% but that they would be surprised if it happened. The other noted that Punk got the official word yesterday after pretty much being told on Monday and described it as Vince just being in one of his moods. Punk and Sonnen had become friends, which makes sense given that Punk is a pro wrestler who overachieved from a marketing standpoint including by learning from MMA, and Sonnen is an MMA fighter who overachieved from a marketing standpoint from learning from pro wrestling. Sonnen had asked Punk to accompany him since it was in Chicago and Punk and Sonnen both got it cleared. But when it became a news story, WWE had a change of heart.
Being a consummate businessman, it is perplexing that McMahon would suddenly forbid Punk from escorting Sonnen to the Octagon.
Logically, there are only good things that would result from the current WWE champion hobnobbing with one of the UFC’s top stars.
The most invaluable benefit is the exposure—from both UFC die-hards and the casual mainstream audience—Punk would garner.
And more than just being highlighted on a hyped, nationally-televised event is the legitimacy the “Straight Edge” superstar would reap via his association with a “real” combatant in Sonnen.
In addition, any fears that Punk—and by extension, the WWE—would be undermined by the UFC announcers are unfounded. If such were the case, UFC president Dana White wouldn’t have allowed Brock Lesnar to partner with the WWE regarding the video game WWE ’12. In reality, White didn’t have to share his top draw with the WWE, but he did.
Consequently, the only possible reason for McMahon’s decision is that he does not want any member of his roster to transcend the WWE brand.
For example, after having to endure Steve Austin’s retirement, The Rock’s Hollywood dreams and Lesnar’s abrupt exit, McMahon may be paranoid about relying on his talent—and their whims—to carry the company.
Instead, by reinforcing the WWE global brand as a singular entity, superstars become relatively interchangeable in an organization wherein the whole exceeds the sum of its parts.
According to Examiner.com, the Japanese Wrestling Promotion IGF is interested in recruiting Brock Lesnar and MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko to wrestle in a possible match. Lesnar retired from the UFC on December 30th, 2011 after losing in a first…
According to Examiner.com, the Japanese Wrestling Promotion IGF is interested in recruiting Brock Lesnar and MMA fighter Fedor Emelianenko to wrestle in a possible match.
Lesnar retired from the UFC on December 30th, 2011 after losing in a first-round match against Alistair Overeem. After his retirement announcement, rumours from the Internet wrestling community were circulating that Lesnar would return to the WWE.
Lesnar has wrestled in Japan in the past. He competed for New Japan Pro Wrestling in October, 2005 after leaving the WWE, and achieved massive success within the promotion. Japanese wrestling fans were overjoyed upon hearing the news that Lesnar arrived in Japan, and were rabid upon seeing him in the ring. If he did make a return to Japan, he would no doubt be welcomed with open arms.
If this potential match between Lesnar and Emelianenko were to take place, Lesnar would have to get approval from UFC president Dana White to compete. Lesnar currently has a “Retirement Contract” with the UFC which prevents him from competing for any other company.
Since leaving the UFC, Lesnar has not commented on competing for any other promotion or company. It remains to be seen if he even has any interest at all about getting back into the ring, whether pro wrestling, MMA or any other.
If the IGF were able to recruit both Lesnar and Emelianenko it would definitely raise their status to be on par with other successful promotions in Japan such as New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling.
The chances of the one-off fake fight happening are slim-to-none considering Brock mentioned that one of the main reasons he retired was to spend more time with his family after his pair of diverticulitis scares the past two years. Travelling to Japan likely isn’t high on his list of family vacations.
The chances of the one-off fake fight happening are slim-to-none considering Brock mentioned that one of the main reasons he retired was to spend more time with his family after his pair of diverticulitis scares the past two years. Travelling to Japan likely isn’t high on his list of family vacations.
Japanese promoters have used the tactic of “announcing” that they are trying to set up fights between big name fighters for years. It’s likely that this latest “news” is a calculated publicity stunt by IGF to conjure up a story, or else they are trying to pressure one or both of the two to perform under their banner. Either way, we probably won’t see Brock or Fedor inside the IGF squared circle anytime soon.
UFC president Dana White recently said during a tipsy interview outside an L.A. club that Brock has his blessing to wrestle again, but that statement contradicts what he said at the UFC 141 post-fight press conference.
“When you retire, he retires under contract. I have no idea [how long the remainder of his contract is]. Listen, I’ve had my moments with Brock Lesnar, but I’ve had a great relationship with him and we’ll figure it out; no big deal,” White explained when asked if Lesnar would be given the go-ahead to return to the WWE. “[We’ve] never had a situation with a guy where we haven’t done the right thing.”
Even Dana White isn’t safe from the paparazzi when he’s leaving a club after a night on the town. As the UFC president was leaving “The Agency” in Hollywood, he was asked questions by the fans gathered around the exit of the clu…
Even Dana White isn’t safe from the paparazzi when he’s leaving a club after a night on the town.
As the UFC president was leaving “The Agency” in Hollywood, he was asked questions by the fans gathered around the exit of the club about topics ranging from Brock Lesnar to Jon Jones and even New Year’s resolutions.
White said that he would let the former UFC heavyweight champion Lesnar return to the WWE, the company that first made him a household name before making the jump to the biggest MMA company in the world.
With the drawing power of Lesnar now gone from the UFC, White said that current light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones could be the company’s next big star as he was proclaimed by White as one of the baddest men on the planet.
Before escaping the questions, the act of making New Year’s resolutions isn’t a popular topic with White as he said people should wake up each day as if it were New Year’s Day instead of just January 1st.
While some people might take this and run with it saying Brock is going back to the WWE and Jones is going to be the next Lesnar in the UFC, Dana White looked to be a bit over served after his evening at “The Agency” so I would take what he said with a grain of salt.
So Bleachers Report readers, what did you think about the comments made by Dana White in the video and is there any truth about White letting Brock Lesnar leave his contract with the UFC and return to the WWE?
Chris Humphrey is a featured columnist for bleacherreport.com. He has covered everything from college football, college basketball, UFC, NFL, NBA and the WWE in his short time writing for the website. You can become a fan of him on B/R and follow him on Twitter @_CBH_.
Brock Lesnar’s UFC return after a year-long battle with the intestinal disease diverticulitis was one of the most highly anticipated moments of 2011. The UFC 141 battle between he and Alistair Overeem was essentially a No. 1 contenders’ bou…
Brock Lesnar’s UFC return after a year-long battle with the intestinal disease diverticulitis was one of the most highly anticipated moments of 2011. The UFC 141 battle between he and Alistair Overeem was essentially a No. 1 contenders’ bout with the winner likely being the next man to fight current heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos.
It didn’t last long, though, as Overeem battered Lesnar’s weakened body with kicks and knees before finally knocking him out less than halfway through the first round. With that, Lesnar announced his retirement from the sport in the post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
So what’s next for the former NCAA and UFC champion?
Well, if you’ve been looking around on the Internet much since Friday night, you have probably seen the rumors that he will be returning to the WWE.
As crazy as that might sound on the surface, it actually makes quite a bit of sense for the WWE to bring in the former superstar. There is a potential program available with a man who he has quite a bit of history with. I’m talking, of course, about The Undertaker.
These two pro wrestling legends have feuded before on camera, but a famous video following Lesnar’s UFC 121 loss to Cain Velasquez in 2010 showed that there may be some legitimate bad blood between the two mammoth heavyweights.
The WWE has a great opportunity to promote a feud between Lesnar and The Undertaker in 2012. A question of real life bad blood has made countless storylines much more effective in the past, and when it has to do with two guys who legitimately could beat the snot out of one another, things just become that much more intriguing.
Only one match has been officially announced for WrestleMania XXVIII on April 1. The event, which will take place from Sun Life Stadium in Miami is set to be headlined by the much-anticipated legend-vs-legend bout between John Cena and The Rock.
However one thing that has become a WrestleMania tradition is the winning streak held by The Undertaker at the event, which currently stands at an unbelievable 19-0. As of right now, “The Dead Man” does not have a scheduled opponent for the event.
Needless to say, a semi-main event between Lesnar and The Undertaker could help make WrestleMania XXVIII an even more monumental event than it otherwise looks like it will be.
While it’s true that pro wrestling is still a strenuous activity, the training is quite a bit different. While performers are looking to hurt one another in MMA, pro wrestling is more of an art of working together to create the appearance that the performers are trying to hurt one another. As such, perhaps pro wrestling might be a better option for Brock’s health going forward, particularly if he doesn’t plan on making it a long-term return.
Lesnar has made it known that he wants to be more of a family man, but the WWE has been pretty good about making that possible for their “for hire” top-level superstars like The Rock in recent years. It is possible that Lesnar could have a very light schedule that would allow him to still be a Dad to his children and a husband to his wife, former WWE diva Rena “Sable” Mero-Lesnar.
If it is a possibility under the law, a return to the WWE does make sense. Will he do it? Time will tell. But certainly it’d be a big pay day for a small time investment.
For more MMA news, fighter interviews and opinions, follow Nick Caron: @NicholasCaron
As many are aware, WWE champion CM Punk was scheduled to accompany his friend and UFC fighter, Chael Sonnen, to the Octagon on January 28.