Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted April 25, 2012 Awards Moderator Share Posted April 25, 2012 he's doing a WWE style thing and we are trying to legitamize the sport and he's carrying on like Billy Graham? Â How is creating an interest in a fight a bad thing? And how does it take legitimacy away? Combat sports have always had their fair share of colourful characters and if Dana and Co. thought that Sonnen's wrestling style promos and general bullshit were bad for business, they wouldn't be pushing this whole thing as hard as they are. Â In truth, the Shit that Sonnen spouts (and probably doesn't believe 99% of it) will see this as one of the biggest shows ever in terms of buys, and get more people interested in the sport on a whole based on the coverage it will get. Â Good for business I say. Â I'm with Silky Kisser. I'm a casual UFC fan in the extreme - the last thing I watched was the Lesnar-Overeem show - but I want to see this one because of Sonnen carrying on like Billy Graham. I'm not fussed about the legitimate sporting contest, I want to see the culmination of the, for lack of a better term, Sonnen-Silva angle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Facts prove the above to be true. UFC PPV's have had a spike in business when they have featured fights with Pro Wrestling like feuds. From Ortiz/Shamrock, Rampage/Rashad, Lesnar/Mir and now Sonnen/Silva. Â A lot of Casual/Pro Wrestling fans plunk down there money exclusively for these. They will not care about say Aldo vs Mendes, like the hardcore fans like my good self do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members ColinBollocks Posted April 25, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2012 HarmonicGenerator is pretty much the audience UFC have to go after. The 'mainstream' want stars and big personalities, not "this bloke is good, and so is this one. LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW!". If it wasn't for smack talk, UFC would be dead anyway (see Shamrock/Ortiz). It's no coincidence that their last 1+M PPV had Rampage/Evans as it's main event, a feud that featured both men talking trash for months. Â What will hurt MMA is if they fail to make stars, or the fighters fail to realise they need to make themselves a bit larger than life. Â Sonnen has done the majority of work selling this fight, by doing 'pro-wrestling'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 HarmonicGenerator is pretty much the audience UFC have to go after. The 'mainstream' want stars and big personalities, not "this bloke is good, and so is this one. LIVE ON PAY-PER-VIEW!". If it wasn't for smack talk, UFC would be dead anyway (see Shamrock/Ortiz). It's no coincidence that their last 1+M PPV had Rampage/Evans as it's main event, a feud that featured both men talking trash for months. What will hurt MMA is if they fail to make stars, or the fighters fail to realise they need to make themselves a bit larger than life.  Sonnen has done the majority of work selling this fight, by doing 'pro-wrestling'. Sorry to be petty, but Lesnar vs Carwin and Lesnar vs Cain after that drew over the Million mark. GSP vs Shields also did. I agree with your basic point though, the GSP show drew because it was a stacked card with GSP, Couture and Aldo on it, that is the only other way other than a feud that UFC draws those big numbers by stacking the card which is hard to do these days due to the amount of PPV's they put out.  The two Lesnar fights drew because of Brocky boy, he was making the casual fans plunk down their cash and the hardcores were still paying to see him get beat, every fight with his was full of his trash talk towards his oppenents and a big fight atmosphere not seen since Mike Tyson in the 90's. As said above it is all about stars, Nick Diaz and Jon Jones have proved the past year to be two new stars who the UFC can depend on at the Box Office, when you mix stars with feuds you are on to a winner with PPV buys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Seven Posted April 25, 2012 Share Posted April 25, 2012 Chael Sonnen is the reason I got interested in MMA/UFC after plenty of attempts from friends to convince me it was interesting. The thing about it is, it can be an incredibly exciting spectacle, but it can also be boring as fuck. I realise you can apply this argument to many sports, not least football, but take Saturday night for example. I woke up late in the day and could easily have stayed up til 6am to watch Jones/Rashad but at about 2am I thought, fuck it, it could be over in five seconds or could be 25 minutes of two dudes hugging. Â Sonnen goes beyond that. He makes me give a shit about the fight. That's what a fight should be, no matter the format. He's a conman? No fucking shit. He's a worker? Duh. It's brilliant. He's amazing. Long may it last. The fact that he actually pisses off morons like Snake Plissken makes it all the sweeter. He might get his head kicked in by Silva in five seconds, but he'll always have a place in my heart. Â WAR SONNEN. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Up Chuck Posted April 25, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2012 On the opposite end of the scale, I hate Sonnen and think he's a proper dickhead. That's not solely because of the trash talk, it's more down to his politics and the real estate money laundering, but the trash talk reminds me that I hate him, and makes me want to watch so I can see Silva hilariously beat him again. That's a win for UFC. I've been missing tons of UFC lately, but there's not a chance I'd ever miss this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Egg Shen Posted April 25, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2012 i seriously can't believe anyone who has a remote interest in MMA has any objections to the way Chael Sonnen sells a fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Up Chuck Posted April 25, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted April 25, 2012 Much less anyone who has an interest in MMA and is registered on a forum about pro wrestling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Natural Posted April 26, 2012 Author Share Posted April 26, 2012 UFC 148: Silva/Sonnen II is going to bring a lot of money in for the reasons already given (rematch of one of the greatest UFC fights ever, wondering how the fight goes down this time, those who like/don't like Chael Sonnen, the promotion of the fight and casuals/hardcore fans interest in the fight). Â Urijah Faber vs. Dominick Cruz I from WEC 26 and Dominick Cruz vs. Urijah Faber II from UFC 132 are still free to view on the UFC's website: Â http://www.ufc.tv/ufc/video/urijah-faber-v...ruz-wec-26/1357 http://www.ufc.tv/ufc/video/dominick-cruz-...er-ufc-132/1358 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Houchen Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 i seriously can't believe anyone who has a remote interest in MMA has any objections to the way Chael Sonnen sells a fight. It's like what Piper said, people weren't buying it just to see Hulk Hogan, they were buying it to see Hogan kick Piper's ass. A buy is a buy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 EBB, Natural, Mr Seven and Houchen get Chael Sonnen. Kudos lads. Â I get amazed on how anyone can take a man who walks around saying he is "undeafeted and undisputed" when he has about 10 losses on his record so seriously. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members Dead Mike Posted April 26, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted April 26, 2012 I don't think it's a case of people 'getting' or 'not getting' Sonnen. His gimmick is hardly multi-layered & cerebral. I think a lot of people, myself included found it to be amusing & a breath of fresh air at first but then his schtick quickly became tiresome. Like chuckling at a 'Little Britain' sketch on initial viewing only for the same gag to be repeated for 3 series he's a caricature of himself now. That said, I'm sure there's plenty of people who found 'Little Britain' hilarious right up to the end & still piss themselves at the repeats. Â These days I cringe every time I see a post saying 'ZOMG! Guess what Sonnen's said now? HILARIOUS' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimufctna24 Posted April 26, 2012 Share Posted April 26, 2012 Fair enough Dead Mike, your reasons for disliking him make sense and are logical. Some fans however do not seem to grasp he is a piss taker and take him mega serious. Â I agree on Little Britian as well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members wandshogun09 Posted April 27, 2012 Paid Members Share Posted April 27, 2012 Dana's been talking about the security measures they had to take just to get Chael into Brazil for the press conference   "With the stuff he said and everything else, we made sure we had proper security. We had seven guys with us who do this for a living. We mapped out the whole route. We literally landed at the airport in Rio, went through customers, then jumped on helicopters that took us right through to the hotel. I came in the front door and we put him through the side door, had him in a holding room. "You know those disguises with the mustaches and the glasses you get at a joke shop? He had one of those on and he said Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted April 27, 2012 Share Posted April 27, 2012 The sad thing is, Sonnen is probably going to get his ass kicked in the rematch. I figure Silva will have put him away by the second frame, mostly likely by spectacular KO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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