Top 60 Chael Sonnen Quotes

The kind of wrestler that’s going to do well in a combat style event like MMA is one that can explode through – doesn’t need to spend time on the mat – hit his opponent, get him off his feet, and get on top quickly.

You can never have the comeback if you don’t have the retirement.

One element of wrestling that I know what I grew up with we put a lot of emphasis towards was the takedown. But, you could win an Olympic championship and never score a takedown, and I don’t know if MMA fans are even aware of that.

I’m competitive.

I’m a God-fearing man, go to church every Sunday, and have since I was a boy. But if I ever found out that God cared one way or another about a borderline illegal fist-fight on Saturday night, I would be so greatly disappointed that it would make rethink my entire belief system.

Cain Velasquez, for my money, is the most intimidating force ever in heavyweight combat.

Ronda’s a very basic and straightforward fighter. However, she’s a masterful competitor.

I’m better than Jon Jones. I’m better than Sean Combs. I am even better than John Holmes.

I see a lot of people try to come out and copy me, duplicate me, and give it the old college try, but at the end of the day, there’s only one Chael Sonnen.

Whenever you can evoke a strong emotion and want somebody to tune in, whether it’s to see you win or get beat up – and I’ve been on both sides of that – it’s a win.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a better experience in the sport than coaching ‘The Ultimate Fighter.’ I got to do it twice, but I got to really build relationships there that will last forever.

A double leg in MMA is completely different than what you would do in wrestling because the posture’s different. You’re standing upright as opposed to bent over; you’re slipping a punch as a opposed to grabbing a guy’s elbow and doing a traditional elbow pull or slide-by in wrestling.

When I’m a fan, I show up to boo. I don’t show up to cheer; I show up to heckle.

Jose Aldo, this guy’s a chicken. I can’t even tell you how good Jose Aldo is, but he doesn’t think it.

I train every day but Christmas. I’m not the guy who gets a contract signed and then trains for a fight. I’m at practice every single day, whether I’ve got a match or not.

We start to decline as humans and, particularly, as athletes right around 25 years old. If you’re real lucky, you might push that to 27 or 28.

I’ve got two 10-8 rounds against Anderson Silva. That’s just the truth. I have no equal at middleweight.

Guys always get jealous or envious of an opportunity, but they never wanna walk out to the mound and point to the crowd and tell them where they’re going to hit the ball. I will. I’ll call my shots.

I love going to the ring hurt or sick or tired and trying to figure out how to win anyway.

I was never a bully; I would take on everybody at any time. Whether that was the No. 1 guy in the world or whether that was the No. 100 guy in the world, it didn’t make any bit of difference. If somebody wanted to fight, I would show up and fight.

I like Bryan Caraway a lot; I used to train with him. I consider him a friend.

I go to a wrestling match, and I love it. But at a wrestling match, on every level – that includes Division I – you go into an empty and cold gym, you roll out a mat, and you set 10 chairs up on each side. That’s a dual meet, and it’s very hard to act like it’s a big event.

Accosting somebody in public can be regrettable. Accosting a gangster can be hazardous.

If your body produces testosterone naturally, fine. Mine doesn’t.

Sports are something that, for the most part, are for kids, and if you’re able to extend your career, you’re very lucky.

Wrestlers tend to do good in MMA because they tend to be just some tough guys. It’s not a karate situation where they grew up their whole life punching the air; in a wrestling situation, you grab a hold of another human being every day.

Brock Lesnar made a career out of refusing to do media and not being accessible.

I want to make the UFC money.

Because of both hipster culture and Facebook culture, the human race is starting to resemble a school of hairy piranhas.

I will never hope to walk into a room and be cheered.

Fighting is an expression. It’s a form of speech, and that’s why they call it martial arts. It’s an art.

The greatest form of expression – or, at least, the most common that we have as human beings, what separates us from the animals – is speaking: the ability to communicate.

The soreness you feel after a fight or after a good battle, it’s the best feeling in the world. You might sit and complain about it, but you feel so accomplished.

I’m a Catholic, and not because I just happened to wake up as a Catholic. I’m not going to be persuaded on any topic, especially not that.

I’m not going to sidestep anybody, I’m not going to back down from anybody at any weight, and most importantly, I’m not going to pick on a guy who is weaker.

I’m not after the money or the fame. I’m after the world championship, and that’s it.

I’m candy-coated poison, and you should not believe anything else.

I don’t want to be an also-ran.

I’ve had a lot of fights, and they haven’t all gone my way.

What you don’t want is for somebody to not care. Whenever they have no feeling at all, that’s bad. Even if they kind of like you or they kind of don’t, that’s also bad. It’s got to be a strong emotion one way or the other.

I thought if you tapped out, you lost the round. Come to find out, you actually lose the fight.

As fighters, the stark reality is, there’s times in that cage when we want out. There’s times when we’ve had enough and we want out, and we’re able to recognize defeat.

Every time you have a huge fight in wrestling, in boxing, in MMA, both guys are sure they’re going to win. They really believe it.

Jealousy is a hell of a thing. There’s a reason it’s one of the deadly sins.

I’ve suffered rib injuries, but I’ve never had a broken one. I’ve dislocated it and popped it, and even that, a big step down from broken, it hurts so bad. But you can’t really move. You can’t even fully breathe and take a deep breath of air.

Brian Stann is a great guy. I voted him in for the President of the United States in 2008, and I will write him in again in 2012.

My dad was a plumber. That’s hard work. He never missed a day of work. I will never disrespect him by not showing up for an athletic competition that has a maximum duration of 25 minutes. There should be forfeiture if you have to pull out of a fight. If you don’t show up, it should be a loss on your record.

I’m a wrestler, so I’m used to not being paid, and I’m used to doing five or six competitions a day and paying someone else to allow me into the event.

I wouldn’t poke fun at someone if they were weak. I wouldn’t bully somebody.

I have never asked the crowd for their approval, and I will never start.

All medicine is made to make you better. If it did the opposite, it would be malpractice.

All our careers end the same: Face down and embarrassed.

I listen to these pundits all the time breaking down Trump – ‘He’s brash, and he’s bold, and he’s successful’ – and none of those are what it is. There’s one word to sum it up, and it’s courage. He has courage.

The only thing more embellished than Floyd Mayweather’s pay-per-view buys is Floyd Mayweather’s net worth. But his spending habits are real.

When I was a kid, I was a big fan of the regional scene. I read ‘Pro Wrestling Illustrated,’ and I watched Portland Wrestling and everything I could.

I never receive backlash for my comments. I receive praise.

Nobody wants to fight Brian Stann. I’m not the only guy, and that’s not a big secret.

When Georges St-Pierre retired and Jon Jones was absent, I had Jose Aldo, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world. That’s how highly I think of him.

All sin and all crime comes from the same thing: ‘I decided. I decided this was okay.’

When I was young, they used to call me ‘foreman,’ not because I was in charge, but because I did the work of four men.