Does Chael Sonnen have the will to win?

Jon Jones made a very interesting statement about Sonnen in a pre-fight video interview on ufc.com, saying that the difference between Sonnen and Muhammed Ali is that Ali believed in himself, whereas Sonnen is just trying to convince himself with all his talk. Jones claimed Sonnen doesn't have the soul of a champion, which is why he comes up short at every opportunity he gets to become a champion. Personally I think this was a very profound statement by Jones. Jones has come across as arrogant in the past and he's not been my favourite MMA "personality" even though he's without shadow of a doubt one of the P4P greats. However, this interview showed that Jones is very perceptive and understands the psychology of the sport very well.

Do you agree?

Im not a fan of Sonnen by any means, and one of the reasons i say that is because i dont beleive he deserves to be in the UFC, the only talent he has is his mouth, thats what gets him the big fights. I agree with Jones, Ali would talk but he would prove himself, Ali knew he had the talent to acheive great things. I think Sonnen does have a doubt in his mind, so he uses his mouth to get into big money fights,

I agree, I don't like Sonnen and I've no time for his American fanboys who think he's a real fighter. He doesn't deserve a LHW title shot. I think the only reason this is happening is because UFC wanted better ratings for TUF and so drafted him in as a coach opposite Jones.

Interesting as in the current TUF series Sonnen continually brings up the psychological aspect of fighting & winning fights and 2 of his guests, Mickey Rourke & Rhonda Rousey had tips & things to say on this. In one of the earlier episodes he talks to one of his fighters, Urijah I think, about his losses and that most were by submission in the 2nd round around the 2 minute mark and that he went to see a sports psychologist to find out what went wrong, especially as he says he'd had a good 1st round.

I think one of the reasons he's getting the title fight is that Dana put his name forward but Jones rejected it when the Henderson fight fell through. Sonnen is a big earner for the UFC and I think its Dana's way of repaying him. No way does he deserve the fight. With regards to TUF he was an obvious choice with regards to viewing figures but he has been a very good coach & there has been no trash talking or stupidity from him whatsoever, I think he's gained a lot of respect & some new fans. With regards to Jones & being arrogant I just think he's not a media guy like others are, he just likes to fight, Sonnen on the other hand is the ultimate hype train, he probably has as many viewers tune in to see him lose as win.

One thing I like about Sonnen is how he simplifies things, he seems to reject game plan & fight camp with fight your fight, do what you do best & always be in training, stay in shape. He has also brought his training team with him for the TUF series.

Sonnen's not stupid but he's overrated. I personally don't like the way he simplifies things, I think he over-simplifies things. Yes you need to be sure of your own abilities, fight to your strengths and stay in great shape between fight camps; that's common sense, but you need to respect every opponent and appreciate their uniqueness. Jones has a very wide skillset and he's a great student of the sport. To think he can just carry on doing what he's doing without tailoring his fight camp to analyse how to exploit Jone's weaknesses and try to improve his own game, compensating for his own weaknesses is suicide.

Maybe he does over simply the simplifying but he does make some valid points imo. Going into a fight confident with a will to win is vital. How many times are we seeing technically good well rounded fighters losing to lesser equipped fighters? This current TUF series its every other fight, no 1 & 2 pick fighters losing to last pick fighters. Fight camp in boxing these days seems to be 12 weeks of weight cutting, I don't see mma at the top being any different.

I think the fight with Jones is a suicide mission & I think Sonnen knows it. Jones's uniqueness is what makes him the great champion that he is coupled with his physical advantages. I think uniqueness is what seperates the great from the good, the champions from the contenders. Yes Sonnen is overated but really only by US fanboys, the guy is limited, he's a wrestler that's done a fair bit of boxing, he goes for a take down & looks to ground & pound in every fight and against Jones he'll look to do exactly the same. He is going to get seriously hurt and may well reconsider his chosen career.

Bones is talking nonsense. The reason why Sonnen isn't a champion is because he lost to Anderson like all other fighters who have faced him in the UFC. In short Chael is just not good enough. Nothing about having the psychology of a champion.

Sonnen has grown on me in this TUF series.

He's a good coach and has come accross as a decent person.

I like him. Great talker which is to sell a show. Nothing wrong with that. I just can't imagine him walking through Ipanema Beach though.

He didnt deserve that fight with silva in the first place (the rematch), as bisping clearly beat him, he was just gifted that decision

Makaveli wrote:He didnt deserve that fight with silva in the first place (the rematch), as bisping clearly beat him, he was just gifted that decision

You scored this fight 3 rounds to Bisping? It was a close fight which in parts was hard to score one way or the other, different judges have different criteria for scoring. Personally I had it a draw, 1 a piece & 1 drawn. I think Sonnen was the favorite going in and Bisping performed better than expected. Admittedly Bisping was never going to win a close fight he needed a ko to win, they didn't want to scupper the Silva rematch, a rematch that was much anticipated after the first fight, nobody had done that to Silva before.

I'd say Sonnen warrented a rematch with Silva, if only for Silva to prove him wrong and show the first fight was a blip.

The match with Jones is a strange one. On records alone, Sonnen should not get the shot, but after agreeing to the fight with 8 days notice and Jones backing out, there will be people out there who wanted to see it.

I'd imagine this was a fight Jones was more than happy to take.

sohotnot, Id hace to watch the fight again but at that time I did give it 3 rounds to bisping. Agreed based on the first performance Sonnen did deserve a rematch but not at the expense of another fighter, like i said at the time I thought Bisping deserved the nod, and even though he wouldnt have beat silva he deserved the title shot more than sonnen.

Makaveli wrote:sohotnot, Id hace to watch the fight again but at that time I did give it 3 rounds to bisping. Agreed based on the first performance Sonnen did deserve a rematch but not at the expense of another fighter, like i said at the time I thought Bisping deserved the nod, and even though he wouldnt have beat silva he deserved the title shot more than sonnen.

As I said different people have a different criteria for scoring, for me 2 at best for Bisping, defo 3rd for sonnen. Like yourself I've not seen the fight since maybe we should both rewatch it. Still not the great robbery some make it out to be.

Sonnen must be laughing all the way to the bank, he knows as long as he accepts fights at short notice he'll manage to navigate past the ranking systems, because otherwise he'd never earn a title shot against Jones.

I wonder how many LHW's were actually asked before Dana was forced to ask a MW who'd lost his last fight in such convincing fashion? I doubt he'll be getting many more chances after his upcoming defeat!