Chael Sonnen Would Love to Kick Georges St-Pierre’s Butt
Whether inside or outside of the octagon, there are few things Chael Sonnen loves more than stirring up trouble, even with fighters outside of his weight class.
During a Monday interview with The MMA Hour, the infamous “American Gangster” and former middleweight and light heavyweight contender targeted welterweight great, Georges St. Pierre:
“I would love to kick Georges’ a**.”
According to Sonnen, his reasons for wanting to fight St-Pierre stem from an incident that occurred “years ago” at a gym in Los Angeles.
“I’ll tell you this. This is a true story. I got a call one day and it was from Kenny Florian, and he says ‘hey, you want to work out?’ I was in LA and I said yeah, and he goes, ‘okay, well Georges is in town. Do you want to work out with Georges?’ And I said yeah. So we go to this gym.
We went hard. I think I could’ve gone harder, but we went hard, and I came in second. And it drove me nuts, man. It drove me nuts. But I really think I could’ve done better. It was close. It was fine. If you ask him, he might try to put me over. I’m not trying to put him over right now, I’m just telling you what happened. He won that go, but I could’ve done better with him, and it’s driven me nuts ever since. I thought, man, I could’ve gotten that guy. I could’ve done better.
He knew he got the best of me. So at the end of the workout, he tried to pay me a compliment. He goes, ‘thanks for not using your size; if you would’ve used your size, you really could’ve crushed me,’ which was really his way of saying, ‘hey man, I just beat you.’ And I knew what he meant, and I knew it was meant to be a nice thing. It stuck with me, man. This is a workout that was years ago and it stuck with me.”
Like St-Pierre, Chael Sonnen has not seen the inside of the octagon since 2013. Chael was originally slated to fight mixed martial arts legend, Wanderlei Silva after their heated and physically violent rivalry on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3. That match, however, was scrapped after Silva refused to undergo a random drug test.
Sonnen was then scheduled to fight former middleweight and light heavyweight championship contender, Vitor Belfort. However, shortly after the UFC announced the match, it was revealed that Chael Sonnen had failed two drug tests.
On June 11, 2014 during an episode of UFC Tonight, Sonnen officially announced his retirement. Afterwards, it was found that he had failed a third drug test.
Despite his retirement, Sonnen’s manager, Mike Roberts, said Chael would fight again if the right fight came along.
“I firmly believe if the right fight and offer come along Chael will jump at the chance to fight again. He is as competitive as they come.”
Though hailed as one of the greatest promoters in MMA, Chael Sonnen denied that he was trying to hype a fight between him and St-Pierre. He did, however, say it would certainly sell, and in typical Chael P. Sonnen form, took some shots at the current MMA roster.
“I’m not trying to hype a fight with Georges here. I’m just saying. But yes, as far as a fight, if you’re just looking at what could sell tickets, yeah man. I mean, these guys are doing a good job right now, but they’re really not. I’m being nice, man. These guys are terrible. It’s so hard. It’s so hard sometimes. Like, what do you want to do here? You guys, you’re just terrible.”
Sonnen did not limit his potential return fight to St-Pierre either. The American Gangster was also open to pick up where he left off with Vitor Belfort or Wanderlei Silva.
Another Silva also showed up on Chael’s list of potential comeback fights: former middleweight champion, Anderson “The Spider” Silva.
It should come as no surprise that a third match against “The Spider” would make its way into the conversation. Sonnen’s intense, three-year rivalry against Anderson is not only one of the most memorable rivalries in mixed martial arts history, but it helped launch Chael’s career.
But as his suspension does not end until July 23 of this year, fans will have to wait and see when and if Chael P. Sonnen makes his return to the octagon.
[Image via Jeff Chiu/AP Images]
