"It was a generosity to the point that it was a mistake" - Chael Sonnen insists fighters are wrong to feel "underhanded" for not being able to have their own sponsors displayed while fighting
Chael Sonnen recently shared his thoughts on the controversy surrounding UFC sponsorships and the promotion's fighters.
During its initial days, the UFC allowed its fighters to have their own sponsors' logos in their fight gear. However, following a lot of controversy pertaining to the selection of brands by the fighters and also to bring out uniformity amongst their fighters, the promotion entered into corporate deals with brands like Reebok and now Venum.
Even though these deals were brought in to maintain uniformity, they negatively affected the athletes by taking away part of their revenue stream.
Fighters are ripped off with Sponsorship. It’s a huge source of revenue for us but the company keeps exploiting that for their own benefit.
I understand that the sport needs to look good with uniforms but we should at least have a right for a minimum of 2 approved sponsors for in the octagon.
Appearing on a recent episode of his Beyond the Fight podcast, UFC Hall of Famer Chael Sonnen begs to have a different opinion on the matter.
The former light heavyweight contender is of the view that fighters being able to keep sponsorship money is a "generous mistake" from the promotion.
Explaining his take on the matter, 'The American Gangster' said:
"Fighters being able to keep sponsorship money... for that arm and that part of the industry even exist when the producer doesn't know how he's gonna keep the lights on... has never happened and we never should have been able to do that. it truly was a mistake. It was a generosity to the point that it was a mistake. Because fighters think it was taken away and they think that's underhanded. And they are wrong, they are just flat wrong."
Check out Chael Sonnen give his take on the sponsorship matter below:
Chael Sonnen gives his opinion on the Paul brothers
According to 'The American Gangster', Jake Paul and Logan Paul deserve appreciation for attempting to fight pugilists like Floyd Mayweather and Anderson Silva.
In a recent interview with James Lynch of MiddleEasy, Sonnen stated that 'The Problem Child' has done an admirable job in transitioning from fighting against someone like former NBA star Nate Robinson to UFC legend Anderson Silva in such a short period of time.
"The gig is up with the Paul boys. I mean, I think with Logan that litmus test was passed the night he got in there with Floyd Mayweather and I mean right... you don't joke or you don't play with Floyd...you don't play with Anderson."
Sonnen added:
"And for Jake Paul to go... I mean it was somewhere within the pandemic, so somewhere recently... Jake Paul fights [Nate Robinson]... and he goes from that guy in a short period of time to the GOAT [Silva]."
You can check out the full interview of Chael Sonnen with MiddleEasy below: