“Some guy burned his back”: 13-second finishes, false promises, Chael Sonnen looks back on his wild early career

Any longtime MMA fan will remember where they were on the night of August 7, 2010.

During my freshman year of high school, I was stuck at home with my dad and a friend to watch the UFC middleweight championship bout, the main event of UFC 117. I had been a fan for about a year and a half, and I Michael Jordan– Wind Characteristics Anderson SilvaWhoever the challenger was, he seemed hopeless against “The Spider.”

It's in West Linn, Oregon. Chael Sonnen One unforgettable night turned the world upside down.

The first Sonnen fight I saw was his title-winning performance against a former title challenger. Nate Marquardt I saw him at UFC 109 in February of that year. His dominant, imposing wrestling style has always fascinated me, and still does. It's just an incredible ability to not stop someone telling you what you're going to do. That style was especially cool to me as a kid who was into pro wrestling. Genuine Fighting.

Could Sonnen really dethrone Silva? It was hard to believe, but Sonnen showed enough confidence to inspire the crowd. He proved he could do it as soon as the fight began, and it was a rollercoaster of (mostly one-sided) mayhem for four and a half rounds. Unfortunately for Sonnen, it ended just like all his previous fights, with Silva winning via Hail Mary triangle armbar in the fifth round.

After UFC 117, I had never been more obsessed with the sport and wanted to see the rematch as soon as possible. I was still figuring out all the aspects of the sport and wasn't sure how long the progressions would take or if they would even be contested, like simple fight bookings or suspension periods for drug tests. So I continued to Google Sonnen daily for updates, not knowing how long I would last.

“The American Gangster” has become my favorite fighter and I couldn't wait for the rematch. Brian Stann and Michael Bisping I regularly marathoned his fighting library on YouTube and wherever I could find footage.

Three weeks later, Sonnen and Silva's historic first fight will see him officially inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, and two weeks after that, a trilogy boxing match will take place this Saturday night (June 15, 2024) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. I was fortunate to have the honor of seeing Sonnen in person again, the day before he flew out of the country.

The timing of his Hall of Fame induction was perfect for this trip down memory lane, as he was coming off a five-year retirement after 49 professional mixed martial arts bouts.

Sonnen made his MMA debut in May 1997. Ben Haley In March 2002, he defeated the future middleweight star Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

“I fought a gentleman named Ben Haley in Washington state,” Sonnen told MMA Mania. “I was a freshman or sophomore in college. We fought, but we didn't practice. I was in a Muay Thai gym, but even in Muay Thai practice, we never touched each other. Absolutely not. There was no touching. So we didn't need mouthpieces or headgear.

“The coach came in one day and said, 'Hey, anybody want to play? We're going to play in this game. I didn't know the rules or what the rules were going to be or anything like that. So I went and played in that one game, but I was still in college at the time, so I think it was just a little while before I graduated.'”

Sonnen won both bouts by unanimous decision, landing Mayhem his famous ring-shattering slam in the latter, and a year later, “The Gangster” was heading to Japan to compete for Pancrase, one of MMA's godfather promotions, after seven fights under his belt.

Sonnen's words over the years have not been kind toward Japanese mixed martial arts, and the now-defunct PRIDE FC in particular. Sonnen acknowledges it was more a case of not being able to compete in those arenas, rather than general disdain. After all, he went 0-1-1 in his two fights with Pancrase, starting with Akihiro Gono And by majority vote Keiichiro YamamiyaIt was the only decision loss of Sonnen's career.

“It was very hard,” Sonnen said of fighting with Pancrase in Japan. “I was going to practice every day, looking for fight promotions, finding contacts, sending emails, trying to get fights. It was incredibly hard to get fights at that time. So when I finally got someone interested from Pancrase, I put my name forward and Randy CoutureSomehow he implied that he would come along or he would hunt me down. Something like that. I just know that Randy was mentioned and it worked.

“They tried that, that’s how I got in, but they only brought in Americans who had contracts. Phyllis LeeThey put me in touch with Phyllis Lee, who I'd never met. She sent me a contract that put my life on the line. It was the worst contract I've ever read. Needless to say, it was hard to read. She sent me a contract that was several pages long. It was 20 percent and you could do whatever you wanted. We may never speak again, and at this point we never have. You're signing with me, you're never getting out of it, that's how I felt when I read it. So I didn't, but I kept working, I kept staying with them, and finally I got the opportunity to go and they called me back. [a second time]. “

YouTube: Pride is Back

Sonnen recalled being with his fellow UFC Hall of Fame inductees. Dan Henderson With the legends coming at him, Henderson was preparing for a trip to Japan where he had made a name for himself before becoming a big name in PRIDE, a champion and a multi-time fighter in the UFC.

Given the timing, one would think that Sonnen's career might have taken a different turn now if he had competed for PRIDE like his mentors suggested, which is what Sonnen wanted to do, but the luck just wasn't right and the hurdles of questionable legitimacy were too high to jump.

“PRIDE had tryouts in Los Angeles that ended up being just a marketing scam,” Sonnen said. “It was an overwhelming success, and it made me so angry. I want to say it was on the UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) campus. It was some college campus. It was really big, and guys like me were flying out, scraping together money to go to this event and try to impress the bosses.

“They gave me some kind of award and I accepted it. Matt Hume, Bas Rutten“I was told I had been given a 10-day trial, then a few other people judged it and essentially I won the tryout and there was nothing. Not even a 'Thank you for coming' email. It's a complete scam and a sneaky thing to do to a starving fighter trying to get by.”

Sonnen's two bouts in Japan featured some of the highlights of his career in terms of the move itself, as he finished off his opponent with a flying knee knockout in just 40 seconds. Justin Bailey April 2004.

I searched the internet for footage of the fight. have I want to see it before I die. A flying knee? From Sonnen? 40 secondsI don't care who it is, but I love this story. This is a story I've wanted to hear for over 10 years.

“We were competing in a four-way tournament,” Sonnen said, “and I drove to the venue. We had no contracts and the promoter had no idea if we were going to compete or not. The venue was sold out, so me and a buddy hopped in a car, stayed in a hotel for the night and somehow made it the rest of the way. The sport was very different then than it is now. I don't think there was a way to get in, and I don't remember it. There was definitely no fee, and gloves or hand wraps were optional.”

“My flying knee is the only one of its kind in my career, but like everyone else's flying knee, I never practice it. You can't practice it. It's all in your head. I believed that if I changed the height, I could stop a fellow wrestler and jump in the middle. Bayley was a champion wrestler. I stunned him, he stopped, I jumped in the middle.”

“When he's down, you have to finish him. You can kick him when he's down, as long as you don't kick him in the head. I remember him going down, and I kicked him. To this day, I feel like I'm a despicable person. A woman actually said this to me – she was a huge supporter of mine – and she pulled me aside and said, 'Listen, I was really disappointed when you kicked him.' I was disappointed too! But I didn't know he'd stay down.”

Thanks to the tournament format, Sonnen was Tim McKenziehe won his matchup against the future Bellator light heavyweight champion. Emanuel NewtonBut M.M.A. Seed It was exhausting. McKenzie's fight was tougher than Sonnen's damaging acrobatics, and he was awarded a decision victory that meant he will never fight again.

Fate brought Sonnen and McKenzie together again under even crazier circumstances: a Que Bodog fight and a luxury trip to Costa Rica. Sonnen has only one other victory under a minute in his career, a 13-second D'Arce choke win over McKenzie on the beach.

Either way, that's the official verdict for the fight. Sonnen has probably never looked happier in public, especially after a fight, and for good reason.

“Tim was younger than me,” Sonnen says. “I should have won that fight and he didn't. He had a great career after that, but they take us out and we don't know what's going on. It's for a fight and we get there and there are fighters all over the place. 66 fighters, 33 fights. We get there and they tell us this fight is going to be televised and not to let it happen again.” [on the internet].

“We're there a week early. We're making commercials and getting this ready. It was supposed to take a month. [with the 66 fights]The ring was set up on the beach. The sun was shining down and it was so hot that one fighter got taken down and burned his back. Everyone who entered this area of ​​the ring was screaming in pain, and then one fighter took his opponent down and submitted him and was screaming in pain as his back burned.

“They fight for three or four days,” he continued. “Tim and I are on the last day. I'm in bed and we fight in the late afternoon. They come knocking on my door in the morning. One of my habits on fight day is to stay in bed all day, no matter what time it is, even if I'm awake. I think it conserves energy. Anyway, at 9 a.m., he's heading to the ring and I have to go to the venue, get changed, put on my gloves, find my cup and mouthpiece.

“These things happen and he broke a rib. I flipped him over and I thought I got the submission. It was credited as a submission but when he went down his rib broke. Imagine the relief when I've been sitting there for a week, watching 66 fights, 65 of them, and then I get woken up and have to go to this super stressful fight. Right now is not for me because I don't have time to be stressed. It was a pretty cool moment. I enjoyed it.”

Photo: Jared Wickerham/Getty Images

No other sport comes close to the depth and variety of stories that can be told – just when you think you've seen and heard enough, something new and incredible pops up out of nowhere – and that's what keeps us, the fans and the fighters, coming back again and again.

If Sonnen beats Silva for the third time in Brazil, At a boxing matchthat would be perfect. And, well, you know… only one more thing left for the bad guys.