Chael Sonnen: Cheaters Never Win

Chael Sonnen has been a lot of things to hardcore MMA fans over the last year. His outspokenness and willingness to talk trash about the sport’s #1 Pound-for-Pound fighter has led to him being viewed alternatively as hated and endeared. When his victory over Nate Marquardt earned him #1 contender status, it was “put up or shut up” time. And we knew Sonnen wouldn’t shut up. And yet, with the recent news that Chael Sonnen tested positive for Performance Enhancing Drugs in his UFC 117 title fight against Anderson Silva, the very performance that he “put up” should be called into question, and given the tremendous stakes, the only appropriate outcome is to cancel Silva-Sonnen II indefinitely.

For 24 minutes, Chael Sonnen grounded and pounded the champion, shattering the force field of invincibility which seemed to surround a champion who, it seemed, could only be hit when he wanted to, and was good enough to toy with opponents, then get bored with them, much like his arachnid namesake suggests. For 24 minutes, Chael Sonnen turned a mythical figure into a mere mortal, and made fans believe that the impossible could happen. But in the end, the same Chael Sonnen who exhibited holes in his submission game in fights against Paulo Filho and Demian Maia fell victim to an Anderson Silva Triangle Armbar. It was a decisive win, made such by Sonnen tapping in defeat. While there was a brief controversy about whether Sonnen attempted a “quick tap” a la Matt Lindland, or whether the tap was legitimate, in post-fight comments, Sonnen admitted defeat, and congratulated the better man.

But in the eyes of the public, despite Anderson Silva having his hand raised in victory, Chael Sonnen was the real winner. Though stopped, the fact that he was able to dominate Anderson in an unprecedented manner made him the uncrowned champ. It was one of the more egregious cases of “what if” in recent memory, and the fans clamored for a rematch, so that the undefeated champion could prove that his win was no fluke. And so Dana White announced the rematch for early 2011, leading Sonnen to begin his campaign against the champ immediately, capped by the memorable soundbite, “Last time I defeated the myth; this time I defeat the man.” Good stuff, huh?

Yet for all the online chatter about Chael Sonnen’s trash-talking abilities, and his penchant for creating controversies with his mouth, the big buyrate never materialized. There was a slight uptick from Anderson Silva’s average, but the fight didn’t generate close to the number of PPV buys that UFC 114: Rampage vs. Rashad, another fight laden with bad blood, trash-talking, and memorable sub-plots, was able to generate. And Sonnen OFTEN delved into territory that involved race-baiting, homophobia, and xenophobia, all which could have served to paint the sport of MMA, as well as its fans, in a bad light, as the type of sport/fanbase that tolerates and encourages this kind of attitude. (Remember, when Dana White, the sport’s figurehead came under fire for his misogynistic and homophobic rant, there were many fans who rallied behind the UFC President.) Furthermore, Sonnen’s most controversial statement of all was to bring up cyclist Lance Armstrong, accuse him of using PEDs, and say that he gave himself cancer. This put Sonnen on shows like Sportscenter and Jim Rome, and of course, in light of the current positive test, would seem wildly ironic.

So let’s engage in a bit What If speculation: what if Anderson Silva had lost to Chael Sonnen, and Sonnen rocketed into MMA’s Pound for Pound lists, becoming the new “it guy” in the sport, popping up everywhere to promote the UFC and his newly won Middleweight Championship, telling everyone that would listen that he did what he said he’d do? And what if today it was revealed that the UFC Middleweight Champion’s career-defining win, a fight that changed the course of the sport, was tainted? California only recently changed their rules to allow for No Decisions in the event of a positive test, so luckily the win would be taken away, but could the damage to Anderson Silva’s reputation be repaired? Would all the articles written in the aftermath need to be rescinded? And what of UFC, who would have declared themselves in the “Chael Sonnen Business,” would they cut ties with their newly-minted Poster Boy? Or would they stand by him like they stood by Sean Sherk, and raise the stakes of such support, as the media scrutiny intensified?

Suffice it to say that the sport of MMA dodged a bullet when Anderson Silva defeated Chael Sonnen. And as such, we owe it to ourselves as fans of the sport to categorically reject the idea of Sonnen-Silva II, and expect Chael Sonnen, whenever he returns from his suspension, to have to start at the bottom of the UFC middleweight rankings, and prove that he deserves another shot at the champ, because his showing at UFC 117 cannot be relied upon. Also, as fans of the sport, we need to be careful about what we wish for, because when we embrace pro wrestling in our MMA, we might get the parts of pro wrestling that we all can agree undermine the sport, like steroids and other PEDs.