Dana White once refused to work with Sylvester Stallone and passed the role to Chael Sonnen.
Dana White is a man who has worn many hats. One of those is that of an amateur boxer. In fact, his love for the sport goes back to even before his days with the UFC. Before he became the president of the world’s most popular MMA brand, he was an amateur boxer and fight promoter.
So, it may come as a shock to some people that White turned down a chance to work with none other than Sylvester Stallone in a boxing movie! Instead, he passed the role over to Chael ‘The American Gangster’ Sonnen who did end up working with Sly Stallone in the movie Grudge Match.
Sonnen is well-known for his mic skills and ability to trash-talk into hype central. So, it was only natural for him to get in with Hollywood when they need a tough guy.
Before working with The Italian Stallion, Sonnen also appeared in other flicks like 2012’s Here Comes the Boom. Grudge Match was released in 2013 and also starred Robert de Niro.
The film involves two retired boxers who enter the ring one last time to settle a grudge between them. The American Gangster narrated the event in a recent YouTube video:
“I never thought I would be in a movie, but I’m also not going to be standing with Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro. Let alone doing a scene with them that’s gonna drop Christmas day that I can take my whole family to and show off… All that happened is they called Dana [White], they said, ‘Dana we want you.’ Dana said, ‘No you don’t, you want Chael.’ And Dana called and told me that.”
What is Chael Sonnen Doing After Retirement from MMA?
Sonnen had his last match in 2019 with Bellator MMA against Lyoto Machida. He lost via second-round TKO and since then, Sonnen has been active on his YouTube podcast, Bad Guy Inc.
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