Chael Sonnen is one of the most underrated fighters of all time

[ortizgnp]

Good thread, Dozer.

 

[UL]

Chael Sonnen is a joke!

i don't count his wins over Rampage/Shogun/Wanderlei

they were all fake and don't exist

 

[eiyuu]

 

[Topguntrophey]

I'm sure this changes everything with this post.

 

[Deleted member 510653]

Ummm, let me think about it for a sec.. No.

Overrated is the word. He is more of an entertainer than a fighter, and his gift of gab has gotten him pretty far in this business. In fact, he took the trash talk thing to a new level.

He doesn't have a very good record and lost 3 title shots, which is alright I guess, but the first one will always get me.. HAVING Anderson, and then shitting the bed at the last moment.. Fuck.. That is probably hard to live with to this day.

 

[private user]

Nah he's rated about right. Remember he's also a steroid cheat. And that mares past accomplishments.

Not for chael. He openly admits it

 

[Vil7]

Ever? Nah. But he is really underrated. Dude was one of the best aggressive wrestlers ever.

Give him great sub defense and he’s probably one of the GOATS

I'd trade the great sub defense for 1 punch knockout power.

 

[OneManOrgy]

His best performance was him juiced to the gills, he has never had an exciting fight. He is your basic wrestler, he's not underrated infact he's one of the worst MMA fighters out there. Lacked heart, skill, and just plain sucked a donkey's dick.

 

[tramendous]

Lol in some alternate reality he survived another couple of minutes vs silva and won a lopsided decision. He then survived to the end of rd1 vs jones who could not continue due to that foot injury.

Wins over silva, jones, shogun lmao

 

[tat2man5k]

Sonnen flailing his legs around like a fucking child gets me every time.

Never noticed it...hilarious

 

[Local Plata]

He was a mediocre talent at best, then found all the superman drugs and went on a good run. Fuck em.

 

[chuckleknuckle]

I don't understand the "Chael talked himself into a title shot," narrative that gets repeated often on here. Dominant wins over prime Marquardt and Okami should have gotten anyone a title shot back then, especially with how shallow the MW division was at one point.

I actually said he got the fight because Silva had already cleaned out the division, and Chael beat those three guys. That's literally what happened.

I actually posted a week or so back about neither Chael, Conor or Colby talking themselves into a title match/big money.

Conor for example got paid like 8k, 12k, 16k, 75k then 85k while beating all contenders to get to a title shot and decent money.

I agree that people can't talk themselves into a title shot in combat sports. If they could, Shannon Briggs would be in title fights every weekend. Let's go champ.

 

[Jibsta69]

I think he's rated right. He had some good wins leading up to his first Silva fight but also talked his way into some bigger fight after. Great entertainer and promoter. Decent one trick pony fighter but never really elite and somewhat of a choker.

 

[Son of Sonnen]

I don’t even care if he wins the whole thing, just want that win over Fedor.

 

[L0ki]

Uncie Shael is pretty good.

Best trash talker on the mic.

He stepped up at the drop of a dime if someone got injured.

His resume reads pretty well with a lot of big names.

You're Welcome has a lot of good insights into the sport.

The biggest knock is that he can be boring as fuck inside the cage, which is definitely true. His mouth can create the hype but the delivery can fall flat when it's just LNP.

 

[myjohnson9]

Meh

 

[FireKidWS]

 

[juanM3]

Yes he was definitely a solid #2 MW for a while. I thought it was a bad idea when he went to LHW after that second Silva loss. I felt like he still had a chance to be MW champ if someone took out Silva (which Weidman did not long after).

Prime TRT Chael was a monster. He walked through anything to get you down and was pretty aggressive on top. His striking was decent too. Unfortunately, being a Republican, he didn't lay on his back with a man between his legs which led to him getting subbed pretty often.

 

[juanM3]

Oops, I should correct myself. Chael was MW champ:

 

[Goon Dog]

I love Chael, but his best moments are on a mic, not in a cage.