[VIDEO] Chael Sonnen Talks Anderson Silva, Sports Psychology, and Damn Near Everything Else on ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’


(Little did Zach Galifianakis know that this would be the most awkward episode of “Between Two Ferns” to date.) 

As has become public knowledge by this point, there are two sides to Chael Sonnen. Two sides that, while vastly different from one another, combine to form a charismatic, well-spoken, yet incredibly polarizing mixed martial artist. The fact that Sonnen manages to effortlessly shift between these two paradigms when hyping a fight, giving a post-fight interview, or relentlessly tearing apart a Canadian reporter is only a testament to his ability to enthrall while repelling, to pique one’s interest while simultaneously drawing their ire. This may sound like a bit of “nut-hugging” as the MMA blogosphere likes to so eloquently put it, but there’s no denying that Sonnen is truly a unique individual, and one who could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves without batting an eye.

But the Chael Sonnen that sat down with Joe Rogan as part of his infamous (as far as podcasts go) “The Joe Rogan Experience” was not the fight-hyping, pro rasslin’ “Oregon Gangster” that many fans can’t bear the sight of. Instead, for over two and a half hours, Rogan managed a feat that perhaps no other interviewer, journalist, or low-level blogger has even come close to: He managed to bring out the sincerity in Chael Sonnen.

And it was nothing short of fascinating.

Not fascinating in a “what’s he going to say next?” kind of way, but rather in a “man behind the myth” kind of way, and to put it simply, it stands above any other Chael Sonnen interview I personally have ever seen. The two dished on everything from Sonnen’s turning point as an MMA fighter (which came as a result of hypnotherapy, believe it or not), to Dan Severn’s infamously terrible work against Shannon Ritch, to Chris Leben’s batshit crazy childhood. But none of it felt forced, or fabricated. The Chael Sonnen that sat down with Rogan was endearing, empathetic, and above all else, realistic, and a kudos is due to Rogan for managing to bring that out of him.

Check out the full podcast after the jump. 


(Little did Zach Galifianakis know that this would be the most awkward episode of “Between Two Ferns” to date.) 

As has become public knowledge by this point, there are two sides to Chael Sonnen. Two sides that, while vastly different from one another, combine to form a charismatic, well-spoken, yet incredibly polarizing mixed martial artist. The fact that Sonnen manages to effortlessly shift between these two paradigms when hyping a fight, giving a post-fight interview, or relentlessly tearing apart a Canadian reporter is only a testament to his ability to enthrall while repelling, to pique one’s interest while simultaneously drawing their ire. This may sound like a bit of “nut-hugging” as the MMA blogosphere likes to so eloquently put it, but there’s no denying that Sonnen is truly a unique individual, and one who could sell a ketchup Popsicle to a woman in white gloves without batting an eye.

But the Chael Sonnen that sat down with Joe Rogan as part of his infamous (as far as podcasts go) “The Joe Rogan Experience” was not the fight-hyping, pro rasslin’ “Oregon Gangster” that many fans can’t bear the sight of. Instead, for over two and a half hours, Rogan managed a feat that perhaps no other interviewer, journalist, or low-level blogger has even come close to: He managed to bring out the sincerity in Chael Sonnen.

And it was nothing short of fascinating.

Not fascinating in a “what’s he going to say next?” kind of way, but rather in a “man behind the myth” kind of way, and to put it simply, it stands above any other Chael Sonnen interview I personally have ever seen. The two dished on everything from Sonnen’s turning point as an MMA fighter (which came as a result of hypnotherapy, believe it or not), to Dan Severn’s infamously terrible work against Shannon Ritch, to Chris Leben’s batshit crazy childhood. But none of it felt forced, or fabricated. The Chael Sonnen that sat down with Rogan was endearing, empathetic, and above all else, realistic, and a kudos is due to Rogan for managing to bring that out of him.

Take this tidbit, in which Rogan asks Chael what he honestly would have expected had his rematch against Anderson Silva taken place in front of the eighty-some thousand fans in Rio as originally planned:

It would’ve been a scene. I don’t think they could’ve controlled it. They swore that they could, they’d have presidential security there, they were planning on having the President of Brazil there, so they’d have their secret service. It’s like, ‘guys, you can’t do it.’ There was just a soccer game and 73 were trampled to death. You can’t control a crowd when they decide to storm, you just can’t. It’s displaced responsibility. You can’t control that, especially when I’m the main event. And the relevance to that is, it means the beer started pouring five hours earlier. So now your not only talking about an insightful crowd, you’re talking about a drunk crowd. 

Rogan pushed on, asking Sonnen what he thought would have happened had he beat Silva in his home country, and it was here that Sonnen truly opened up.

I think it would have been bad. I think it would have been very, very bad. And I would not have backed off one bit. Because I’m not gonna change; I’m gonna dance with the one that brought me. I’m going to be aggressive, I’m going to be in your face…I’m going to do my job as soon as Bruce Buffer gets out of my way. And I can’t change, I don’t know how to change. This is what I’m programmed to do. I hate to talk like one of those maniacs, ‘I’d have given my life blah blah blah,’ but Joe, I swear to you, hand to God, I’d have given my life to win that championship if I had to. 

Let’s not forget, this isn’t tough guy talk. I signed the contract to go to Brazil to do the fight, and in my heart I thought, ‘I don’t know how this is gonna go.’ I made my mother promise she wouldn’t go. My mother doesn’t get it, she’s an older woman. She’s got a ruby or a diamond on every finger, you know, you don’t go into South America like that, let alone a fight. It was just one of those deals, but look, this is what I’m gonna do. 

Check out the full podcast below. The conversation in question starts somewhere around the hour and a half mark, but I’d recommend you check out the whole thing.

J. Jones

Get in Here and Join Us for Our First Episode of ‘Ask the Potato Live’

UPDATE: The Spreecast room is live!  Get in here!

One thing that sets us apart from most other MMA sites (besides the hatred flung around the comment section like a beach ball at a Metallica concert) is the sense of community you’ve all shown. We’ve met a bunch of you handsome devils at the MMA Expo in Boston and our “Banned” party in Toronto and have always enjoyed conversing with you guys — except for ThisRedEngine. That guy was a douche.

Anyway, to add to our interaction with you guys on the front line, we’re happy to introduce what we’re hoping will be a regular segment around these parts: Ask the Potato Live.

Basically, it will serve as the video version of The Bum Rush Radio Show, but the difference will be that every episode will be based around your questions and the topics you want to discuss. It’s as much your show as it is ours, except we’re doing all the grunt work to set it up.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Sign up for a free Spreecast account and when the show is live, set up your video cam and microphone and let us know via the chat that you want to talk to us. We’ll queue you in and you can pose your question for us or our occasional special guest.

2 Sit back and enjoy the show.

3. Send us your suggestions for future episodes.

 

Thanks for joining us.

 


UPDATE: The Spreecast room is live!  Get in here!

One thing that sets us apart from most other MMA sites (besides the hatred flung around the comment section like a beach ball at a Metallica concert) is the sense of community you’ve all shown. We’ve met a bunch of you handsome devils at the MMA Expo in Boston and our “Banned” party in Toronto and have always enjoyed conversing with you guys — except for ThisRedEngine. That guy was a douche.

Anyway, to add to our interaction with you guys on the front line, we’re happy to introduce what we’re hoping will be a regular segment around these parts: Ask the Potato Live.

Basically, it will serve as the video version of The Bum Rush Radio Show, but the difference will be that every episode will be based around your questions and the topics you want to discuss. It’s as much your show as it is ours, except we’re doing all the grunt work to set it up.

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Sign up for a free Spreecast account and when the show is live, set up your video cam and microphone and let us know via the chat that you want to talk to us. We’ll queue you in and you can pose your question for us or our occasional special guest.

2 Sit back and enjoy the show.

3. Send us your suggestions for future episodes.

 

Thanks for joining us.