Former three time UFC title challenger, Chael Sonnen, doesn’t believe that the woman who brought females to the UFC and carried divisions on her back, Ronda Rousey, can be regarded as a star.
Talking on the Ariel Helwani Show yesterday, Sonnen massively downplayed Rousey’s impact on the sport with a number of outrageous claims. First, Sonnen claimed that the UFC had “no idea” who was the best female fighter on the planet when they brought women to the UFC and that they “handed her the belt”. Whilst what he said is true, that Dana White did hand Rousey the belt at a press conference, she was the Strikeforce bantamweight champion at the time.
He did caveat the next statement by saying that he’s “not trying to hate” on Rousey, only to go on and blast her legacy in the sport in the next statement.
“It is very important to the people that tell the story that Ronda Rousey is the reason women’s fighting is here, and she’s the biggest star in the sport’s history. That’s very important to the people that tell the story, there’s just nothing to support it. She doesn’t have a merchandise record. She doesn’t have a pay-per-view record; she’s not even in the top 10. She doesn’t have a live gate record; she’s not even in the top 10. She never did. It’s not like she had these records, and I came along and took them, or Conor came along and took them. She never had them. There is no truth to the story of Ronda the star.”
A fairly damning statement from a well-respected name in the world of mixed martial arts.
Chael Sonnen did make an interesting point later in the conversation with Helwani, that once Rousey picked up back to back losses, she never returned to the sport and never gave anyhting back to the UFC.
“I love the sport. The sport did something for me, I owe. I feel at least. She never even came back and made cameos. She never even came and sat in the front row. She had nothing to do with us, and she wonders why people are going, ‘Good riddance to you.’ You said it to us.”
You can see the whole interview between Chael Sonnen and Ariel Helwani here:
Was Chael Sonnen Right?
Chael Sonnen has always been a big talker, famously. He is arguably the father of modern trash talk. The scripted callouts, funny quips and iconic mic moments (especially that Anderson Silva call out) got him into title fights that maybe he didn’t deserve. A light heavyweight title fight coming off a loss in a middleweight title fight is certainly questionable.
With that being said, was he right to blast Rousey in the way that he did? He headlined three UFC PPV cards, losing on each occasion and getting popped for PEDs in one. Rousey headlined six UFC PPV cards, winning four.
Both are hall of famers, Rousey for her career and Sonnen for his fight with Silva at UFC 117. We wrote two years ago about the impact that Rousey had on the sport and why she deserves more respect, which can be found here.
As for her never returning to the sport, Chael Sonnen is correct, however, there’s good reason for this. Throughout her second book she made it very clear that she was suffering from concussion-like symptoms and that it wasn’t safe for her to return. She also alluded to mental health issues surrounding her UFC losses, so perhaps not returning to promote the sport that she loves but can no longer compete in is valid.
Ultimately, what Chael Sonnen was saying wasn’t said to embarrass to hurt Rousey, he was speaking facts. The comment “There is no truth to the story of Ronda the star”, simply isn’t true, however.
