Chael Sonnen has got a new passion; his days of fighting are over and he has now shifted his focus elsewhere. Whether inside the cage, behind the analyst desk, or in front of a microphone, the self-proclaimed ‘Bad Guy’ has built a reputation on sharp wit, unshakable confidence, and a delivery so smooth it could sell sand on a beach. Now, he’s setting his sights on a new kind of fight: politics.
That’s right, Sonnen wants to be on the ballot; more specifically, he wants to run for the position of the governor of Oregon.
Or, as he put it in an interview with Jake Shields, he is going to be Governor.
How does he know? Well, Shields wasn’t going to ask him that. Afterall, this is a man who threatened to beat Joe Rogan in the middle of the octagon. Thankfully, like a real movie villain, Uncle Chael likes revealing his whole plan before executing it.
“Why? Because I’m willing to cheat to win. The moment I found out that you could rig an election… I do know, and I am going to rig it.”, the UFC veteran joked.
Or did he?
This could really set the alarm bells blaring. But Sonnen has built a career on toeing the line. He once cut WWE-style promos in the UFC, talking about slapping Anderson Silva’s wife on the backside and making her cook a steak.
He called out entire countries (hello, Brazil) with the bravado of a guy who just knew he could sell a fight. And he never really broke character, which is why his latest declaration of election rigging feels less like a scandal and more like classic Sonnen—pure entertainment with a hint of “What if?”
Of course, this isn’t the first time the former middleweight contender has dipped his toes into politics.
Back in 2021, he set his sights on Congressman Kurt Schrader, blasting him with series of tweets, essentially calling him ‘dumb’.
Since then, Sonnen has advertised himself in the mainstream, even joking that he had done more to help Trump win than UFC commentator Joe Rogan.
So, the real question is: could he actually win? Stranger things have happened. He has the gift of gab, for sure. He’s a born salesman, an expert storyteller, and a guy who understands that in politics, as in fighting, perception is everything.
People don’t just want policy; they want personality. And love him or hate him, Sonnen has personality in spades.
And since personality is what seems to be getting those votes, Sonnen seems to be on the right track. The former middleweight contender is so confident that he is already planning his first move as an elected representative of the people
Sonnen’s Plan to Make Portland Great Again
The former UFC fighter clearly has something against the city of Oregon, and he has a plan to fix it.
The very first day he lands in the governor’s office, he will do the people a favor and let someone else fix their state for them. And if it still doesn’t work, he has a plan for that too.
“I promise to sell PORTLAND back to…the PORTUGUESE. Then Let THEM try to fix it. When they fail, Buy it BACK for NICKELS on the DOLLAR. Use profits for Cops, Firemen, Public Safety.”, Sonnen announced on Twitter.
-UPDATE-
On my FIRST DAY as
GOVERNOR of OREGON
I promise to sell PORTLAND back to…
the
PORTUGUESEThen
Let THEM try to fix it
When they fail
Buy it BACK for
NICKELS on the DOLLARUse profits for Cops, Firemen, Public Safety
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) February 18, 2025
It’s classic Sonnen, half-joke, somewhat-political statement, and fully entertaining. While the logistics of selling an entire city back to Portugal (which, to be clear, never owned it) might be questionable, the underlying message is clear.
Sonnen thinks Portland is a mess and needs a dramatic solution to fix it. Now, that may or may not be the case, but just to be safe, people of the state should learn the lyrics to the Cristiano Ronaldo soccer chants. Oh, and they are going to have to call it football as well.
