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Tito Ortiz and HDNet married in a bed of stupidity; Update: Transcript of Chael Sonnen accusing Anderson Silva of greasing before fights
By Zach Arnold | August 6, 2010
The discourse has truly been elevated.
Video: Tito Ortiz to target Matt Hamill’s ‘soft head’ with ‘small shots’
Ortiz believes upcoming opponent Matt Hamill’s deafness indicates that he has a “soft head” that leaves him vulnerable to “small shots” in volume.
And the press release sent out by HDNet for this video?
More smack from Sonnen while Tito slams Hamill’s handicap – tomorrow night on HDNet’s Inside MMA
Ortiz said that Hamill has no equilibrium because, “he’s deaf so he has a soft head and you hit him with more and more shots.” Hamill, who is deaf, trained under Ortiz on Season 3 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and will face him at UFC 121 in October. Ortiz tells Kenny Rice and Bas Rutten that Hamill has been, “…babied his whole life coming from being deaf. He’s gonna be babied after, when I knock him out and look for a little snuggle.”
Update (8/6): Here’s the video of Chael Sonnen (10 minutes long) accusing Anderson Silva of greasing before fights:
The transcript can be read in full-page mode.
RON KRUCK: “I promise that we will break down your fight with Anderson Silva, but your trash talk going into this fight has been phenomenal. Do you have a genuine dislike for Anderson Silva?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, I don’t believe I talk trash. Talking trash is when you make something up. I’ve never made anything up and I’ve never said anything that I’d apologize for. Uh, yeah, I don’t like Anderson Silva. I don’t apologize for that, either.”
RON KRUCK: “After all his antics in the cage, the disrespect many believe he showed his last opponent Demian Maia, do you feel as a veteran of MMA that he doesn’t respect the sport?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I don’t know what that means. I hate when people talk about respect, that sounds like street talk to me. You know, he can get in the cage and do anything he wants to do, whatever strategy he feels is going to yield him the best result he should bring to the ring. I’m going to do the same thing. He’s going to do the same thing against me that he did with Maia. he’s going to dance around and fight with the air because he has to, he’s not in shape to go 25 hard minutes. My job is to go out and get my hands on him and make him work, that’s the battle.”
RON KRUCK: “Well, when he shows that type of behavior in the Octagon, is that bad for Mixed Martial Arts?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I can’t think that it’s good. You know, you promise the fans one thing and you deliver them something different, that’s not what this is about. That’s certainly not what Dana Whites wants to have done. But at the same time, Anderson’s a rich man. You’re not going to intimidate a rich man by threatening to fire him. Dana’s words about threatening to release Anderson aren’t what’s going to motivate him. He has to go out there and fight the air. If he locks up with me, he’s going to get tired and he knows he will, he would have gotten tired against Maia and Leites and Cote and everybody else. He doesn’t train hard enough to go 25 hard minutes. So, he does that to make up for it. I don’t blame him a bit. It’s been a successful strategy and I don’t blame him for employing it. The trick for me is to find a way to get through that and get a hold of him, make him work.”
RON KRUCK: “Chael, is it more to that do you think that he behaves that way in the Octagon his last few fights because he’s bored or maybe he’s not being challenged? What’s your take?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “No, I think both of those things are just silly. He’s not bored out there and he’s certainly being challenged. You know, he’s having to work hard. He’s not winning all these rounds. He lost rounds against Maia. He’s lost rounds against other guys. I don’t know what it is that makes him tick. I think he’s a guy that’s read his own press clippings. I think he’s starting to believe what they’re saying about him and I think he’s a little distraught that people just genuinely don’t care about him. When Anderson walks in a room, people stay in their chairs. Anderson’s a four-year world champion and he endorses nothing. He has one sponsor. People just don’t care about Anderson. They don’t want to walk like him, talk like him, or dress like him and I think that bothers him. He’s the only champion that doesn’t have a fan base. I don’t know if that’s why he acts like that or what it is that gets at him. I truthfully don’t know and I really don’t spend much time thinking about Anderson Silva.”
RON KRUCK: “Interesting point. Any concern that you may be motivating him with some of your comments?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “No. Not in the least. He can come in there motivated or demotivated. I can’t control him. I just genuinely don’t care about him, not even a little bit.”
RON KRUCK: “Chael, you also exchanged some words with Silva’s manager, Ed Soares. Why was that?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I have no choice. Anderson Silva will not hype this fight. Anderson Silva won’t talk about it. You have to understand, Ron — I’m not in on the business side of this. I’m not in on the PPV. That’s not what my contract calls for. His does. He gets a cut of the PPV. My only motivation, look, you got to understand Ron — I can drag Anderson outside a hotel any time I want to and beat him up. I decided to wait until August 7th and I’m doing my best to make sure that millions of people are tuning in to watch me do it.”
RON KRUCK: “Well, we can’t leave out Silva’s teammate, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. He said that you’re not ‘qualified’ to fight Anderson. I’m guessing you disagree with his take.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, who cares what I think? I know that Dana White, Little Nogueira’s boss, seems to think I am. I know that Lorenzo Fertitta and Joe Silva seem to think that I am, so if Little Nog wants to go out and disagree with the bosses and the powers-that-be, that’s really up to him. After he did it, I challenged him to a fight and he hasn’t opened his big mouth since, has he? It’s been two weeks and he hasn’t said a word. You know, Little Nogueira said something else funny in those same comments, he said I’m just looking for my 15 minutes of fames. Well, that’s real interesting. The fight scheduled for 25 minutes, Little Nougiera, but then again it’s a title fight — you never had one of those so you probably didn’t know that.”
RON KRUCK: “Well done. He has the most title defenses in UFC history, holds the record for the most wins in the Octagon. Chael, do you think Anderson Silva is the best pound-for-pound fighter in MMA as Dana White and some others have said?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Yeah, I do. You really, Ron, don’t get confused on the pound-for-pound list. What that means is the guy with the most overall skills. And I think he is. I think it’s between him and Georges St. Pierre, I’m on boat with everybody else on that. I don’t really care about the most overall skills. I care about the effective meter. You know, if you look at Brock Lesnar, he doesn’t have a whole lot of skills. He’s never going to make a top pound-for-pound list. But on the effective scale, he’s very effective. I am very effective.”
RON KRUCK: “As promised, let’s break this fight down. No secret, you’re a world class wrestler. Is the game plan to use those skills to get him to the mat, gain top control, and then go to work from there?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, that’s everybody’s plan. Everybody wants to get out there, throw a guy down, and beat him up. It just doesn’t work like that. I don’t have an illusion that I can just take Anderson down any time that I want. Every single fight starts on their feet, 100% of them. We’re going to start on our feet every round, every time the ref breaks us, we’re going to be on our feet a lot so there’s a lot of fighting to be done out there. I’ve tried it to make it sound like it’s real simple, I’ve got to get him down, he’s got to keep it on our feet. He doesn’t buy into that and neither do I. There’s a lot of things that are going to happen in the Octagon and there’s more than one way to skin a cat, Ron.”
RON KRUCK: “Very true, but do you believe does he have th takedown defense to stop you from bringing this fight to the mat?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Yeah, sure, I wouldn’t know until I get a hold of him, but yeah, he’s done a good job. He wears these little tiny shorts, you know, his skin’s very slippery, he’s one of these guys that greases up. So you got to get a hold of the fabric. There isn’t much there. yeah, he’s a hard guy to drag down. A lot of guys have had problems with it, but um… you know, he’s not the first cheater that I’ve dealt with, he’s not the first guy that discovered he could soak himself in baby oil before he walked to the ring so you know, again, I got a lot of obstacles to deal with. That’s just one more.”
RON KRUCK: “Chael, that’s a major accusation about Silva greasing up with baby oil. Where did you get information?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Those weren’t exactly my words, so let’s just move on.”
RON KRUCK: “Very good. Chael, if this fight stays standing up, do you feel confident to trade strikes with him?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, I can tell you this, Ron, I’ve fought 41 men and none of them out struck me. There’s a first time for everything. but 41 men have tired to out strike and 41 men have failed.”
RON KRUCK: “Of course, with any title fight, there’s going to be some hype and build-up. However, the bottom line is, you have worked very hard and earned this title fight by winning three straight. What is this oppoorutnity mean to you?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “You know, you got to understand, Ron, I beat every champion of every organization there’s ever been. There’s not another fighter walking the planet that can say that. There’s a company called Elite XC, I beat their champion. There’s a company called Strikeforce, I beat their champion. Company called Bodog, beat their champ. IFL, beat their champ. WEC, beat their champion twice. There’s not another fighter walking this earth that has the credentials that I have. Go look at my resume, look at who I fought. I fought a who’s who of two different weight classes and I ran through 10 of the Top 12 ranked guys in the world. This fight means a lot to me but win or lose, I mean you got to understand, I’ve put my time in. I’ve won a lot of matches. I’ve done a lot more in this sport than Anderson Silva’s done. He’s done a lot more in this company, I’m not blind to that, he’s done a lot more in the UFC, but he hasn’t done more in this sport. He hasn’t beat five world champions… I have.”
RON KRUCK: “Great points. Chael, let’s change topics now. You were running for State Representative in Oregon but recently dropped out of the State elections. Can you tell us why?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Uh, I put out a press release. The press release is widely known and I know you know it as well because you reported on it. I’ll stand by that and that’s all I have to say.”
RON KRUCK: “Very good. Do you feel you still have a future, though, in politics?”
CHAEL SONNEN: “I love politics. I have a future right now, I mean I’m still active in the community and I’m active in politics and we’re working on a number of things and a number of campaigns right now but I’m not a current candidate.”
RON KRUCK: “As we wrap up, I have to tell you, Chael, you have sold EVERY ONE on this fight. So, I’ll give you the opportunity. Tell us what’s going to happen when you and Anderson Silva enter the Octagon.”
CHAEL SONNEN: “Well, listen… You know, I’ve taken all the classes, I’ve passed all the quizzes, this is the Final Exam and it’s pass or fail. It doesn’t do me any good to go out there and have a good, close fight with Anderson Silva. It just doesn’t. At the same time, I mean, I’ve got a lot of obstacles to overcome but so does he. He’s going to bring his skills, I’m going to bring my skills, the better fighter’s going to win. At some point in 25 minutes, this is going to come down to who is tougher and Anderson Silva knows good and well he is nowhere near as tough as Chael Sonnen.”
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 15 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Zach, I am a HUGE fan of your investigative work, knowledge of the business and its players, and the consequent reportage. However, you can do MUCH better than to follow anything that the fighter Chael Sonnon has to say to shamelessly promote. I could not believe how many laughs there were at the pre-fight press conference. It is obvious that he has a HUGE ego and will say anything for attention and laughs and that point there negates the value of everything he says. It is a shame that people think he is funny or entertaining. He is pathetic and his promotion means nothing and I wish you would pay no mind to it.
What I wanted to say has been said by the first and second posts, so I /support them.
You can do better than Chael Sonnen.
Zach wants readers. Doing an investigative report about Japan’s MMA business isn’t going to get 1/3 of the readership Chael Sonnen, who like him or not is one of the most talked about fighters in MMA until at least tonight, brings.
It’s just the way things work. Sure, nobody likes it when the media puts so much importance on the cast of Jersey Shore than they do for people with actual talent at something, but the louder the noise the more it gets your attention. Sad but true.
Ed. — There’s something new about the Japanese MMA business right now?
Chael Sonnen not only comes off as delusional but continues to present himself as a complete A**hole as well.
The greasing thing is a built in excuse for when Sonnen gets wiped out.
What is more insulting is Tito’s assessment of Hamill’s handicap. Why not just say, “He’s an easy target because he should be a Special Olympian”? What a jerk.
Rp
Lol, Chael is kinda wearing it thin.
After painting himself into a corner like this if he doesn’t eck out a decision tomorrow (or a competitive showing would be acceptable IMO) he’s gonna look pretty silly.
I still think its funny though in an absurdist way.
Almost pythonesque (“but I’m INVINCIBLE!!!”).
And if anybody deserves relentless irrational badgering its anderson silva IMO.
WAR SONNEN!
I think that Sonnen’s mouth is writing a check that his ass can’t cash. He can talk all the talk he wants to, and that won’t beat Silva. I think Silva is the biggest asshole in the UFC, but that doesn’t take away from his abilities.If Sonnen shows up and performs half as good as he thinks he is, this should be a good match, and he could eek out a win.
As far as Tito is concerned, I don’t think he has enough power to take out Mark Hamill. If crybaby Tito tries punching Hamill in the ears, Hamill will comeback and hurt Ortiz badly.
Those quotes could be used as Exhibit 97 in the case of “Tito Ortiz is a Classless Ass.”
Right behind yelling at fans for not paying attention to his excuses for losing fights…
Well, I’ve finally watched this interview and it’s obvious Sonnen is just hyping up the fight.
One thing he said that is dead on and can’t be disputed is that Anderson Silva is NOT doing anything to hype up this fight, so I personally think Dana White is loving that Chael is doing his thing.
But if Sonnen really wants to sound entertaining AND articulate, he should watch some Arn Anderson promos. If he can mimic those, he’ll actually sound like he means what he says. 🙂
All of that sillyness said, I’m pulling for Sonnen, based on Silva’s stinky performances in three out of the last four fights he has had…but I think Silva is going to school Chael.
I hope I’m wrong though.
The argument to that would be how many tickets did Arn sell with his “realism” versus how many tickets Ric Flair sold with his over-the-top hyperbole. People like absurdity in their media personalities. Look at how much more TV time Ochocinco and TO are going to get for their stupid soap opera on the Bengals than the team who will actually be the best in the NFL this season will. Same with how some really lopsided or uninteresting fights have outsold actual compelling match ups due to one or both of the fighters in the crappy fight being good talkers.
I know this makes me a mark and is what Tito wants and is selling, but I really would pay now to see Hamill murder Tito.
If Sonnen loses his career will never recover. He went on with this for far too long. He should have started the trash talk in June so he’d be peaking on it right now. But he started in April and peaked at the fan club Q&A in June with the entire month of July being complete overkill. Imagine how rabid the casuals would be to see this fight if he didn’t bust out the Q&A punchlines until the Countdown show. The moral of the story is: pace yourself.
As for Tito, mocking disabled people is the last refuge of a has-been. He knows the public is done with him, so this is all he has to offer as to not be completely overshadowed by Brock Lesnar.
Bummer!
I guess I’ll never be able to take Chaels word for enything again.
Back to everything else.
But a smite bummer less then everything else, always.
…
I guess if anybody is gonna be forced to fix anderson back down to 185, I’ll just have to do it myself…
He should have gone to pass out land!
He should have never tapped out while he was still awake!!