The American Gangster: The good, the bad and the in-between

The Early Days

He came to the cage in 1997 as a lot of Americans did, with a wrestling background and a willingness to grind. This competitive attitude served him well throughout his career, where he became the self-proclaimed king of anywhere, anytime, any place.

In his first 10 fights he fought names such as Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller, Renato Sobral and Forrest Griffin. All competitors that would go on to be household names as the sport itself grew and found the spotlight. For his eighth professional fight he flew to Japan to fight Akihiro Gono who was 15-9-7 at the time. Gono had superior MMA experience and, arguably, a better standard of competitor experience. The bad boy from West Linn took him to a draw.

As the sport of MMA flourished throughout the 2000’s. Chael Sonnen found his way to the World Extreme Cagefighting where he faced Paulo Filho for the WEC Middleweight Title twice. Having lost the first fight via armbar he then defeated him in the rematch. In a cruel twist of fate Filho missed weight so the title was not on the line. This would remain a sore point for Chael Sonnen and his fans.

The Big Show

With the UFC acquisition of the WEC, Sonnen was heading to the big show. His debut at UFC 95 did not go to plan as he took a submission loss from Demian Maia. The competitor in him took it in stride and put on three impressive performances against Dan Miller, Yushin Okami and Nate Marquadt.

This winning streak and his gift of the gab brought him face to face with Anderson Silva where he put on the performance of a lifetime. Four rounds of domination that shocked the world followed. Silva laced up a submission from his back and Sonnen was back in the losing column.

After his brand of self promotion and declaring Silva a bum on the lead up to the fight, many fighters would be disheartened in defeat. Not Sonnen.
He used the best performance of his career to solidify his place as a competitive talent at the highest level of the sport. He took to the limelight like a duck takes to water and quickly became a man with a cult following who either loved or hated him.

In that time he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs and advocated for medically supervised Testosterone Replacement Therapy ⁠— a hot topic for competitors in a sport with little to no oversight. He claimed wins over some of the best of the generation including Michael Bisping and Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua while also dropping a rematch to Anderson Silva as well as losing a Light Heavyweight Championship matchup with greatest-of-all-time contender Jon Jones.

The Twilight Years

After a loss and multiple drug test failures for a laundry list of performance enhancing drugs Sonnen announced his retirement from competition. His contract as an analyst for the UFC was terminated with the multiple drug testing failures cited as the cause. Not to be silenced, Sonnen found a new home in Bellator MMA. He spent the twilight of his career fighting some of the biggest names in MMA. This included wins over Wanderlei Silva and Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackosn while taking losses to the likes of Tito Ortiz, Fedor Emelianenko and Lyoto Machida in his final bout.

With a career spanning over two decades and a record of 30-17-1 is he a great of the sport or a middling competitor that was a master of promotion?
Longevity in this sport can be difficult. We can not pretend that Sonnen was fighting top 5 contenders for the entirety of his career. But, we also can not over look the list of names he has on his resume.

He stood across the cage from three of the four contenders for greatest-of-all-time in Anderson Silva, Jon Jones and Fedor Emelianenko. He has competed across three weight classes and challenged for titles in two of those while competing in a tournament for a third weight class title towards the end of his career.

The Man with Fans

So, what does it take to be a great? Does it mean capturing a championship belt and defending it multiple times? Could it be remaining competitive for years after your generation has retired and faded away? Could it be Sonnen’s massive following and ability to sell his own fights, or any other fight you ask him to promote?

Perhaps being great could be a simple as being thought of as great by a large portion of people who follow and support the sport you are participating in.

Chael Sonnen being the master of promotion, media and controversy shows us that regardless of your opinion of his competitive record he is the big show. Here I am writing about him and thousands are watching him. However his reach and the impact of his participation is undeniable. With that the American Gangster gets the last laugh. And to this non-competitor behind a screen that seems pretty great to me.

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