Chael Sonnen Big Nog Feeding Carrot to Bus

Chael Sonnen's 10 Most Memorable Soundbites

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Conor McGregor, with his silver tongue and gold pocket watches, has taken the MMA world by storm. He's a can't-miss fighter looking to leapfrog past some of the best, most qualified title contenders on the planet in hopes of wrapping Jose Aldo's featherweight title around his waist to complete his wardrobe.

But let's not forget who authored the textbook on talking one's way into a title fight—that honor belongs to Chael Sonnen. The gangster from West Linn, Oregon, proved that you didn't need to be the best or flashiest fighter in the world to get people to watch.

Sonnen was always on the hunt to be the greatest, no matter the cost. But being granted an opportunity to do so wouldn't come without some offensive (but entertaining) soundbites from the pound-for-pound best trash-talker the sport has ever seen.

Scroll on to see which of Sonnen's soundbites made the cut on our list.

A Threat to Wanderlei Silva

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Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva spent weeks together in Brazil when they helped bring along some of the best and brightest fighters Silva's homeland had to offer on the third season ofThe Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.

Aside from a young Brazilian's crowning moment, the season's end was destined to bring us the culmination to the long-standing feud between the two coaches. Silva wasn't too happy with the way Sonnen spoke of his countrymen, threatening to harm the former title contender.

Needless to say, Sonnen hasn't been kind to Brazilian fighters in the past, offering this tidbit back in 2011 (via an interview with Ariel Helwani):

Wanderlei, you are an immigrant from Brazil. I'm a gangster from America. Are you sure you want to play that game with me? Listen, Wanderlei, I will do a home invasion on you. I will cut the power to your house and the next thing you'll hear is me coming up the stairs with a pair of night vision goggles I bought in the back of Soldier Fortune Magazine [sic]. I'll pick the lock to the master room door, take a picture of you in bed with the Nogueira brothers working on your 'jiu-jitsu.' I'll take said photograph, post it on www.DorksFromBrazil.com...That, Wanderlei, is how you threaten someone, dummy.

Chael Questions Pride Fighters

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Chael Sonnen is notorious for calling it how he sees it. Far be it for him to bite his tongue when talking about why he doesn't respect the lengthy winning streak Wanderlei Silva held while fighting overseas. He told this to Ariel Helwani in 2011:

Wanderlei's going to go 22 straight wins in Japan and he can't win two straight in America? Mirko Cro Cop's going to win all those fights in Japan and he can't beat anybody in America? Fedor's going to win all those fights in Japan and he's 3-2 in America? And one of those wins is over a guy who was flipping tires at Sam's Club the month before...'Kid' Yamamoto, 10 years, they told us he was the greatest featherweight to ever live. He can't win a round in the UFC, let alone win a fight...The Japanese circuit is fake, it's always been fake. None of those guys won those fights.

Chael Sonnen Calls out Brock Lesnar

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Chael Sonnen was never one to shy away from calling out fighters in his own division, knowing very well that he was physically capable of standing toe-to-toe with the best of the best in the middleweight class. He took things a bit further when he called out the heavyweight champion of the world in a fan Q&A session:

If Brock Lesnar was here right now, I'd take my boot off and throw at him, and he'd better polish it up before he brings it back to me. That guy comes around here talking about he's the baddest guy in the UFC? Hey, Brock, quit eating so many raw eggs and doing push-ups because it's affecting your roam on reality. Are you kidding me? I'd slap you in your face, and you wouldn't do anything about it, Brock. 'But I'm Brock Lesnar, But I'm Brock Lesnar, I've got this $5 haircut and a knife tattooed on my chest.' Well I'll shove it up your face if you get in Chael Sonnen's way.

The American Idol

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The first time the UFC made its way onto Fox, it made sure to bring the heavyweight champion of the world. The second time out, Dana White and Co. made sure to bring the proverbial heavyweight trash-talking champion of the world.

Having fought for world titles in the top MMA promotion on the planet, Chael Sonnen finally had the opportunity to show the world who he was during a pre-fight press conference:

I think everybody up here is grateful to be on Fox. The probably say 'Fox, thanks.' Everybody but me, I would say 'Fox, you're welcome. You've been telling people for years you've got the American idol and now you finally do.'

The Bus-Carrot Incident

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OK, so maybe Sonnen didn't always tell the truth. That's what most of us believe when he offered this hilarious (but likely completely fabricated) gem on the Nogueira brothers (via an interview with Helwani):

I was in Las Vegas when the Nogueira brothers first touched down in America...There was a bus that pulled up to a red light, and Little Nog tried to feed it a carrot while Big Nog was petting it. He thought it was a horse...He tried to feed a bus a carrot, and now you're telling me that country has computers in Brazil? That's crazy to me.  I didn't know that. I did not know that.

Chael Sonnen Trashes Anderson Silva

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It wasn't as if the world was forcefully trying to prevent itself from ever seeing Silva vs. Sonnen II take place—most of us would have welcomed an immediate rematch without so much as raising an eyebrow. Taking a page out of Vince McMahon's playbook, Sonnen took to Joe Rogan's microphone after his UFC 136 bout with Brian Stann:

Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business. I'm calling you out Silva, but we're upping the stakes: I beat you, you leave the division. You beat me, I leave the UFC forever.

Only Challenge the Best

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Even in a moment of transparency and vulnerability after his first loss to Anderson Silva, Chael Sonnen never offered an apology to Anderson Silva or the Brazilians. He told reporters at the post-fight press conference:

When I go off, it's like a bomb, and anybody around me is going to get dirty. That's the way that it goes. I don't offer an apology for any of that stuff. These guys need to get thicker skin. Second off, everybody in the UFC should issue an apology except me. You stick a microphone in a guy's face, and he calls out anybody but the champion, and Joe Silva should fax them a pink slip right then. So I don't offer any apology, I'm never going to change. I'm going to go after No. 1, whoever that is, if it's Anderson or I got to go up after the guys at 205 or go on a diet and go after Jose Aldo. It doesn't matter; if you've got a belt, I'm coming after you.

Chael Sonnen Trashes Anderson Silva...Again

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Make no mistake about it: Having won five of his last six bouts, Chael Sonnen earned his way into his first title fight with the greatest fighter on the planet. The second run to the title didn't offer quite as lofty performances, but he did manage to get back into the cage with the middleweight champion. Here's what he had to say about Silva and his Brazilian countrymen at a pre-fight press conference:

You know, when I was a little kid, I remember going outside and sitting around with my friends. We'd talk about the latest technology and medicine and gaming and American ingenuity. And I would look outside, and Anderson and the Brazilian kids are sitting outside playing in the mud.

TRT Concerns

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Sonnen's first fight with Anderson Silva went the way he said it would—except for the whole "winning the world title" thing. He bested the champion for four-and-a-half rounds as the world was preparing for the Silva era to meet its demise at the hands of the gangster from West Linn, Oregon.

But he didn't win. Many of Silva's supporters cited a rib injury as the primary reason for Silva's performance before becoming aware of Sonnen's elevated testosterone levels, which is when Silva's diehards had a field day with the challenger. He responded to the criticisms at a UFC 133 Q&A:

My phone rings, they call me up, and they say, 'Chael, your testosterone level's too high.' Well I say, 'Well how high was it?' They said 0.7. I said, 'What's normal?' They said 0.6. I said, 'One-tenth? You're telling me I'm one-tenth higher than the average man? Re-test that, you must've caught me on a low day. I told them to feast their eyes and fantasize. I offer no apologies. That's testosterone, ladies and gentlemen.

Chael Sonnen Cheats, Doesn't Apologize

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Through all the smoke and mirrors that were Chael Sonnen's attempts at covering up his use of performance-enhancing drugs, we finally got the truth we deserved. He said during his podcast:

I'm not going to apologize because I'm not sorry. I'm a consenting adult; I knew exactly what I was doing. This was a premeditated decision. If I go jump in my car and I back up and I hit my neighbor's garbage cans, I'm sorry for that. This was a calculated decision. I made the decision, and I'll live with it. That's it. I wouldn't make any excuses about it.

Offer up your most memorable Sonnen soundbites below.

Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.

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Source: https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2272586-chael-sonnens-10-best-soundbites

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