UFC legend Chael Sonnen has revealed his mum was willing to pay the promotion £50,000 to secure him a fight.
Sonnen had a top-level career in the sport, challenging for the UFC middleweight and light-heavyweight but was unable to get over the line and win either belt before retiring. During his MMA career, 'The American Gangster' earned victories against the likes of Michael Bisping and Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson', and even touched gloves with Jon Jones and Anderson Silva, who are widely regarded as two of the best fighters in UFC history.
The American star was beaten by Demian Maia in his UFC debut in 2009 but still went on to launch a successful career in the octagon. However Sonnen revealed he was so desperate to join the UFC, he would have fought at heavyweight, despite not being big enough for the division.
“I was so desperate to get into the UFC and so was my family, and it looked like that opportunity wasn’t going to happen for me," Sonnen said when narrating his own story to becoming a UFC fighter on his YouTube channel. "My mother had a plan, she wasn’t a wealthy woman, but she was willing to pay Joe Silva $50,000, who was the matchmaker of the time, to get me into the UFC.
“Now I ended up getting the opportunity so my mother didn’t have to bribe the matchmaker, but I got in because I was willing to fight somebody that nobody else was willing to fight on short notice.” Sonnen used his own story to illustrate the point that rising star Paddy Pimblett would be able to step in for short-notice outings if he keeps his weight down instead of bulking up after every UFC outing he makes.
Sonnen himself is now 45-years-old and now analyses the sport on his YouTube channel as opposed to competing in the octagon. The former title challenger retired from the sport after a stint with Bellator after departing the UFC in 2013.
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His Bellator run ended in back-to-back defeats against Fedor Emelianenko and Lyoto Machida, after a run in the promotion which saw him faces the likes of Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva. Despite having only just retired from competing three years ago, Sonnen has retained rivalries with fighters including Ortiz.
The 47-year-old has even claimed he still dislikes Sonnen to this day despite having defeated his bitter foe. “Chael Sonnen. That guy I dislike that man,” Ortiz said. “He’s just something else. Someone who talks and talks and talks and has never done anything in this sport besides talk. That’s what he does for a living. He should’ve stayed to that and I guess he is staying to it [since] he’s retired now."
