It is not something you hear often from a fighter, especially one at UFC level, but Sonnen has his reasons. He told MMA:30 that they stem from his early days trying to break into the sport. He says he will consider his career a waste of time if he can’t capture the middleweight title.
“One night. One moment. Twelve pounds of gold… This will all be a colossal failure if I don't have that one night. I haven't had too many dark moments, but I'll tell you, in the beginning, trying to break in [to the sport] was so hard,†he said.
Sonnen related a story from his early days in the fight game, where he was called up at short notice to fly across the US and fight Jeremy Horn, who at the time was beating all comers and was 69-12-4 to Sonnen’s 12-5-1 (Sonnen fought 19 fights from early 2002 to the end of 2004).
Having been promised a UFC contract if he won the fight - which meant some proper money - Sonnen ended up losing by first round TKO. A few months later they rematches and Horn submitted him. It took Sonnen another year to earn his first UFC call-up and then four years to get back in after he was dropped.
So his position on demanding fighters makes sense.
“I don't know if those are dark moments, but those are some of the things that I remember. I look at today's athletes and sometimes I see them being prima donnas, or not wanting to do certain things, being ungrateful or complaining about their pay as they pull up in a new Ferrari and I think you guys don't know what it's like,†he explains.
“This [UFC organization] was a very risky business venture that a couple of crazy guys, who risked everything to make, and you're not owed this industry. [Fighters] should be a little more grateful.â€
