Ahead of a new season of The Ultimate Fighter, the UFC’s resident ‘good guy and bad guy’ duo, Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen, discussed the difficulty in being a pundit, especially one with accurate information about all that is happening within the promotion.
Cormier and Sonnen have enjoyed great success within the Octagon, but as with most sports, it’s never guaranteed that an athlete can transition seamlessly into analysis and punditry. However, the popular duo has made it look very easy from the outside looking in.
Sonnen has been working with ESPN as an MMA analyst since 2014, with Cormier joining in an analyst and commentator capacity in 2016. The pair debuted their Good Guy / Bad Guy podcast in 2016 and haven’t looked back, becoming leading voices for all things MMA.
While they continue to pull in great numbers on ESPN MMA, the veterans claim even that they have a lot to learn about the sport.
“As you know, it’s hard to get accurate information in this space,” said Sonnen, addressing hosts Jack McGuire and Robbie Fox.
“They do do a very good job of protecting news to create speculation. But sometimes I think I know the right person who will have the right answers and they don’t. Sometimes the fighter themselves will find out about something during an announcement,” Sonnen added.
The UFC Hall of Famer revealed that he found out that he was fighting Anderson Silva when he saw UFC boss Dana White announce the fight on SportsCenter.
Sonnen fought Silva for the UFC Middleweight title twice in 2010 and 2012, respectively. He lost both fights, providing just a couple of chapters in Silva’s record-holding longest UFC title reign. The reign lasted 2,457 days and included 16 consecutive victories.
Sonnen did however, get a small slice of revenge last year when he faced Silva for a third fight – this time in a boxing ring. The fight went the full five rounds, ending in a draw.
Cormier: Sonnen’s sources are ‘good and bad’
It seems that Chael Sonnen’s industry secrets can be a bit hit and miss. Of course, if Sonnen misfires massively, this could land him in hot water.
But as Cormier reveals, Sonnen isn’t the only one who gets caught in the crosshairs when he turns out to be wrong. However, that doesn’t mean that Sonnen’s inaccurate reporting doesn’t bring with it a welcome degree of comedy.
“Man, Chael was on a run recently… He first told me that Jon Jones and Tom Aspinall was done to the date,” revealed Cormier. This summoned raucous laughter from McGuire and Fox.
“There was another one that he said and I was like, ‘Yo, you’re out of control,’ and then right before his show, he said something else… Three days later, he was right, and we did a five-minute segment talking about how right he was,” Cormier pointed out.
“He’ll steer you sideways but then he’ll get you on track and he’ll get one right,” admitted Cormier. The news in question surrounded José Aldo’s retirement.
Aldo announced his retirement in a post-fight interview following his UFC 315 loss to Aiemann Zahabi earlier this month.
Notably, Sonnen’s hit-and-miss reportage doesn’t seem to be affecting his ability to get more presenting opportunities within MMA. Sonnen and Cormier will appear as the head coaches for the 33rd season of The Ultimate Fighter, which will premiere on May 27th. The season will mark the 20th anniversary of the reality television series.
