Chael Sonnen Slams MMA Coaches for Overtraining Fighters and Ruining UFC Title Chances

Former UFC middleweight title contender, Chael Sonnen, has made a scathing claim about a host of coaches in combat sports, asserting a lot of them may be responsible for their own fighter’s downfall.

Sonnen, an alum of the Octagon, retired from MMA back in 2019. And beyond a farcical exhibition trilogy with Anderson Silva last summer, he has remained sidelined from competition. However, during his UFC tenure, he competed for middleweight spoils twice. He then made a light heavyweight move where he challenged Jon Jones for gold.

He is also set to take on coaching duties this summer on The Ultimate Fighter 33. This will be his second stint on the reality show and the first time he will be taking on friend and Hall of Fame star Daniel Cormier.

So, set to put on his coaching cap once more, Sonnen has unleashed on MMA coaches in that spirit.

In his always-humble op-ed, Sonnen has claimed a host of top-level coaches are missing a trick – furthermore, costing their star fighters the chances of winning high-level gold. Citing an epidemic of over-training, Sonnen has claimed he knows a host of fighters who can testify to his statement.

“I know fighters that despise their own wives and children”, Sonnen said on his podcast.

“They go into this thing called ‘training camp’. Now, training camp is just an expression. You don’t train anymore [than usual] or any harder. You’re gonna do right around an hour in the morning. You know, you’re kinda tired. You’re getting out of bed”, he explained.

“… And in the afternoon, you’re not gonna get past an hour and 40 minutes,” Sonnen continued. “The worst coaches in the world- who overtrain their athletes and have no champions- aren’t gonna train you more than an hour and 40 minutes”, he concluded.

Sonnen’s points about this issue has also been backed by former bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

Aljo details over-training issue

During his dominant bantamweight title reign, Sterling had admitted similar concerns – and notably, the champion expressed those feelings just before his usurping.

Headlining UFC 292, Sterling would see his run halted brutally. After enjoying a record-setting stint, Sterling was flattened by the oncoming Sean O’Malley. And in the weeks before the bout, the Serra-Longo MMA staple, admitted he was concerned over his output.

“Sick f**ks, push until they can’t no more”, Sterling had tweeted pre-UFC 292. “Overtraining concerns? Always. But we seem to pull back at the right time. Still going Sicko Mode. August 20th we can take a break. Until then, it’s full throttle for the fans!”

In the time since, Aljo has moved up a weight class to the 145 lbs and now competes for featherweight glory. And while it has at least lessened his weight-cutting woes, the veteran has not enjoyed stellar success so far.