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MMA Link Club: The return of Chael Sonnen

By Zach Arnold | July 7, 2011

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This week’s MMA Link Club featured stories

Cage Potato: Five of the worst weight cuts in MMA history

Apparently there’s this thing called the 17 Day Diet that allows you to lose your hideous gut as long as you eat nothing but Fritos for 17 days. Or something like that. I can’t be bothered to do actual research. But the point is this: It’s just another bullshit fad. As MMA fighters have proven for years, the only way to effectively take off pounds is to dehydrate yourself until you nearly die – a miracle diet known as “brutal weight cutting.” Here are some of the sport’s greatest success stories.

Middle Easy: Cooking with Tim Kennedy & cutting weight

As we are cutting weight getting ready for a fight we limit our calories. This is a big issue with allot of fighters. They end up eating the same thing every night. Chicken one night, and fish the next get kind of boring.

Just because you have you loose 30lbs in a month doesn’t mean that you can’t do it with style. From BBQ chicken sandwiches, turkey bacon BLT’s, to Shrimp Ceviche a little bit of imagination can to a long way with a starving MMA fighter.

NBC Sports (Ariel Helwani): July 2011 MMA fighter rankings — Alistair Overeem comes in as the #3 Heavyweight & Chael Sonnen is #2 ranked Middleweight

Not the most dominant win over Fabricio Werdum, but he did what he had to do. Up next is Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

5thround.com: Josh Koscheck looking to jump to UFC Middleweight division

On Thursday afternoon, Koscheck was asked by his clothing sponsor, Dethrone Royalty, who he was interested in making his comeback fight against. While most assumed he was eyeballing the Octagon’s debut in San Jose this coming winter, the controversial wrestler also decided to drop the 185-pound bomb on the Twitter universe.

Bleacher Report: Nate Marquardt gets challenged by Ben Askren and scolded by BJ Penn

“It’s pretty obvious. I’ve been around the block. I travel a lot to gyms. I think cheating with performance enhancing drugs runs rampant in the MMA world, and I’m okay with that. That’s their decision,” Askren told MMAWeekly Radio.

“I wouldn’t do it. I think there are long-term ramifications in your career, and the fact that they’re choosing to take the easy way out as opposed to training themselves naturally, that’s also going to have an effect on them long-term, that they didn’t do it themselves, that they had something helping them.”

Five Ounces of Pain: Uplifting featherweight “Rad” Martinez joins Bellator foster

“When I step in that cage, and even when I get to go to practice, that’s when the shackles come off,” explained Martinez of his chosen career. “That’s when I’m free to be me – to think about me and what I have to do right now.”

Lowkick: Mayhem Miller’s words of smack for Anderson Silva

Miller is confident in his ability to beat any fighter in the world at his weight class and says if given a shot at reigning Champion Anderson Silva, “he will take his a– down and choke his a– out.”

MMA Convert: Why Tito Ortiz winning is a good thing

Of course, none of that means you’ve ever had to like Ortiz. But whether you’ve loved him or hated him over the years, the undeniable common denominator with the Huntington Beach Bad Boy is that he’s capable of evoking emotion. That trait alone has made him resilient in terms of long-term employment. His long-term employment, in turn, has made him one of the legends of the sport.

Also featured (Jim Genia): MMA in Brazil — a quick rundown

MMA Fighting: Should Bellator sign Nate Marquardt?

Fowlkes: Absolutely Bellator should rush in. To stick with your increasingly troubling analogy, Mike, it’s the best chance for them to date out of their league, if only for a short time. Never underestimate the power of the rebound, especially when your ex is out there spreading negative information about you. Marquardt’s vulnerable right now, and Bellator could use him. Slick down that cowlick, throw on some cologne from the bathroom vending machine, get over there and throw out your best opening line, Bellator!

MMA Mania: Is Chael Sonnen’s return good for MMA?

Regardless of your opinion of him and/or his character, he sells tickets, turns heads, and gets a reaction. Brock Lesnar had (and hopefully will continue to have) the same kind of polarizing effect. They both sell tickets and get people to tune in.

I agree that that, in of itself, does not make him good for the sport. People tune in to the Jerry Springer Show. That doesn’t mean it’s good entertainment, or anything I’d want to associate myself with. People listen to Ke$ha and she sells a lot of records.

MMA Payout: UFC 132 Payout perspective on the business of the event

The Fight Nerd: ‘Bruce Lee Lives’ first episode

The first thing I need to make very clear is that this is not a documentary about Bruce Lee as much as it is an homage. I had to get over that fact very quickly and change my expectations, and I suggest you do the same before we move on. With that knowledge in your head now, the show starts off with a very visually exciting sizzle reel that catches your eyes and just looks spectacular. Great attention to detail and great visuals which continue to pop up through out the 22-minute long debut episode.

Topics: All Topics, Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 17 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |

17 Responses to “MMA Link Club: The return of Chael Sonnen”

  1. Stel says:

    “Just because you have you loose 30lbs”

    ANother mma article showing you not hav too finush school to fight or spread ignorance. Sadly, most mma fans can’t spell lose, or loss so they just replace it with loose. But this type of laziness in paid pro fighters and writers is unacceptable.

  2. Chromium says:

    I believe Koscheck said he was just looking to go up to 185 for a single fight, and it didn’t sound like a done deal.

    I am strongly inclined to believe he’s looking to fight Stephan Bonnar.

  3. Stel says:

    he will loose

  4. Nepal says:

    Honestly, the return of Chael is “business as usual”. UFC is a business – full stop. Chael can trash talk the PPV numbers up, nothing more to discuss.

    Dana couldn’t give a shit about the TRT angle or steroid implications. Chael’s a cheater, just as many other MMA fighters are.

    The money is the only thing that matters.

  5. 45 Huddle says:

    Bellator is in talks with Nathan Marquardt.

    For anybody who has given the UFC grief over Marquardt…. I expect double the amount of negative comments towards Bellator.

    At least Zuffa fired him for his actions…. Bellator is looking to reward him…

    • Nepal says:

      Bellator is looking to make money.

      • 45 Huddle says:

        So is the UFC.

        But there needs to be a professional standard for companies who have TV contracts on what type of fighters they are going to sign…

        • The Gaijin says:

          Yes, Bellator is a bunch of idiots – I don’t understand how or why they would sign Marquardt and his damaged brand. Especially since he’ll probably walk right into a marquee fight with Lombard.

          However, after this entire PSAC fiasco, the UFC looks like a bunch of idiots and isn’t much better. They knowingly allowed or were complicit with Marquardt’s TRT use the ENTIRE time – their de facto commission in Germany allowed it without any legitimate reasons other than some unnamed hack doctor’s prescription. And now they’ve booked Chael Sonnen on a card in Texas where they know no one will give a fuck about the TRT (they’ve already allowed guys without the proper paperwork/reasons to use it).

        • 45 Huddle says:

          They fired a 2 time offender in Marquardt, yet you bash them.

          Bellator is trying to sign a 2 time offender, and you have no problem with it because it makes sense for their matchmaking.

          Do you see how that makes no sense?

        • The Gaijin says:

          Huh?

          I am completely bashing Bellator and saying they look like morons because they are taking a damaged brand in Marquardt and likely going to march him into a non-title fight with one of their 3 most marketable fighters. How is that me having no problem?

          On the same hand, UFC has a guy that’s basically done the exact same thing as Marquardt (he’s got some specious TRT exemption stuff that for one reason or another no one has bothered looking into), except he only got caught AFTER the fight. But then he also went on a whirlwind tour of making himself look like a complete asshat, liar and cheater. Yet they have no problem skirting a number of issues by setting him up in a big fight in Texas.

          Zuffa fired Nate for a lot of reasons and for that they get credit in my books. But a lot of those reasons are the same reasons they should have “fired” Sonnen but didn’t – basically because he can “draw” and Nate cannot. That and because Nate exposed them with their complicitness in this dirty little TRT loophole…the same one Sonnen keeps trying to get through.

        • 45 Huddle says:

          I read that first paragraph as pure sarcasm…

        • edub says:

          It’s completely hypocritical to say that Bellator is some garbage trashy brand, when the UFC commission shopped to get Sonnen his next fight.

          I don’t wanna hear the bullshit argument because that’s all it is. Marquardt was a two time offender (eventhough technically there was never another suspension from a failed drug test). Sonnen was a one time offender then lied to an athletic commission; not skirted around the truth, wasn’t just a “little off” on his explanation, didn’t give some inflated numbers or reason. He straight up lied to the commission and was never punished.

          Both are cheater, one sells PPVs better than the other. That’s it.

        • The Gaijin says:

          Ahh…but the “However,” in the second paragraph should have tipped you off, no?

          1. Nate’s not a draw and probably never will be.

          2. He’s really damaged his brand (beyond just being a non-draw) amongst casual and hardcore fans.

          3. He will probably still demand good money.

          4. There’s probably a good chance he walks right in and fights one of their crown jewels and beats him convincingly.

          5. He just got cut by the premier org and totally run out on a rail for the TRT business.

          All of this makes Bellator look either like morons or really desperate (which one is worse?) for snapping him up and giving him a high profile fight. Then again these are also the same people that run shows on Indian Reserves with some shady sh*t going on, so what should we expect…maybe it’s the perfect place for Nate.

        • Nepal says:

          Neither UFC nor Bellator follow a professional standard. They book whoever can sell tickets. For Bellator, Nate has a marketable name. That\’s business.

          The UFC let Nate go for one reason. He fucked up their main event (read: fucked with the UFC), you don’t do that and continue to live in their world…. unless you can draw bigtime……then there’s an exemption.

          Chael didn’t fuck up the main event from a revenue perspective. He was caught afterwards.

          Chael is still with the UFC because he has drawing power. His crimes are more egregious than Nate’s(other than getting caught once compared to twice), he can sell an event, Nate can’t.

  6. David m says:

    Chael’s 20 minute interview with Ariel was amazing

    • edub says:

      I’m not gonna lie I’m getting sucked in by Chael a little bit. When he talked about the Nogueira Brothers feeding a carrot to a bus I lost it.

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