Honorary Charger #2, Chael Sonnen

It’s that time of the week again friends and neighbors. The Greg One has returned to induct another awesome human being as an Honorary Charger. The second inductee goes to mixed martial arts badass Chael Sonnen. Sonnen is a good ol’ All American man who will be stepping up to take on the best middleweight on the face of the earth, Anderson Silva, at UFC 148 on July 7th in Las Vegas.

Why Chael Sonnen? Two reasons. First, Sonnen is the best trash talker regardless of sport. However, for all his bravado he comes across as the playground bully who actually made good on his threats. If Sonnen doesn’t like or respect his opponent, he doesn’t cover it up with politically correct nonsense. Sonnen will rip his challenger up one side and down the other verbally, then physically in the octagon. His rants are hilarious and the way he speaks you get the feeling he genuinely means every word of venom coming from his mouth. See the above clip for a small demonstration of his gift of smack. Sonnen will not hesitate to tell you he is the best fighter in the world and The Greg One is a believer. Anytime you see Sonnen with a microphone in his hand, stop what you’re doing and watch. Youtube has Chael Sonnen trash talk compilations! Watch em. You’ll thank me for it.

Sonnen’s credentials are remarkable. NCAA Division I All American wrestler. Greco-Roman wrestling champion. Olympic Silver medalist in Greco-Roman wrestling in 2000. US Olympic team alternate. Titleholder in every fight promotion he’s been in with exception if UFC.

Reason two is Sonnen has already faced Silva in August 2010. Silva has been middleweight champion for five years. The man’s greatness can’t be argued but he’s similar to LeBron James. He knows he’s the best and he’s infuriated UFC bossman Dana White with some of his performances. Silva has been known to just toy with his opponents once he figures out his opponents weakness and his own range instead of finishing the fight. This practice has lost him fans, got him on the wrong side of management and cast him as a pompous, arrogant, self-absorbed diva. For all White’s angry post-fight rants about his fighting style, would he truly cut the best fighter in the world? Silva knows the answer is no and White can do nothing but continue to try to find someone who can solve Silva’s riddle. Few are the men who have even been able to touch Silva during a fight.

Until Sonnen.

In that August middleweight title bout, Sonnen destroyed Silva for four and a half of the five scheduled rounds. Sonnen outpunched Silva. Sonnen threw Silva on the ground and beat him relentlessly and the champion had no answer for Sonnen’s aggression. That is until two minutes remained in the last round. Sonnen, in dominant position clubbing Silva like a spirited game of whack-a-mole, left his arm exposed and motionless too long. Silva grabbed it and executed a textbook triangle submission hold, forcing Sonnen to tap out. Sonnen lost but left no doubt who was truly the best middleweight in the cage that night. He stood up to the bully Silva and dissected him. Sonnen lived up to his hype, talked great smack and proceeded to give Silva a beating like nothing he has experienced before.

Now the rematch quickly approaches. Most think Silva will use the knowledge of the first fight to get the win but The Greg One sees Sonnen getting the job done and learning from his ONE mistake from the last fight to finish the narcissistic Silva and take the ten pounds of gold back to his native Oregon. Chael Sonnen is a man’s man. A man you would want to have a brew with and a man The Greg One wants to sit with at the Charger games. Welcome to the family Chael. After the Chargers win maybe we’ll take a road trip to Oakland, sit in the Black Hole and you can beat down all the pretenders in spiked shoulder pads and Darth Vader masks. You throw the punches, i’ll post the video to Youtube!

Check out this post-fight interview after Sonnen’s last fight, the precursor to the rematch: