Chael Sonnen lauds Israel Adesanya's coach Eugene Bareman as "top coach in the business"
![(L-R) Chael Sonnen, Israel Adesanya, Eugene Baremen, and Alexander Volkanovski [Images via Chael Sonnen on Youtube and @citykickboxing on Instagram]](https://staticg.sportskeeda.com/editor/2022/07/07784-16566342326962-1920.jpg?w=500)
Chael Sonnen was recently all praise for City Kickboxing coach Eugene Bareman.
On a recent episode of his popular show Beyond the Fight, UFC Hall of Famer Chael Sonnen discussed the City Kickboxing gym. The gym in Auckland, New Zealand, has produced some of the biggest names in MMA, including Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski, and Dan Hooker, to name a few. The man behind these great champions is their coach, Eugene Bareman, who also founded the gym.
However, Chael Sonnen believes it is not just the fighters he has produced that make him a great coach. Sonnen claimed that Bareman's ability to keep his team together makes him one of the best coaches in the business.
Sharing his thoughts on the veteran coach, 'The Bad Guy' said:
"Eugene Bareman, top coach in the business, period... that's not because he's got [Dan] Hooker in the stable, he's got Volkanovski and still because he has a total of 14 guys within the UFC, because just won a fight on Contender Series and got a fifteenth guy in the UFC. It's not because he's got Adesanya... I say it because he's got a team. And I don't think there's many other guys you can say that about."
Sonnen continued by saying:
"He's got 15 fighters under contract with the largest organization in the world. It's really a wonderful job. He has some secrets. There's something there that he knows. He has unity and he has bonding and that is very hard to come by."
It's worth noting, though, that Alexander Volkanovski's head coach is Joe Lopez from Freestyle MMA in Windang, New South Wales, Australia. 'The Great' has been a regular at City Kickboxing, and Eugene Bareman has helped his journey immensely, but the contribution of his head coach cannot be understated.
Watch Chael Sonnen give his thoughts on Eugene Bareman in the video below:
Israel Adesanya heaps praise on Eugene Bareman
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya recently shared his thoughts on what makes his coach one of the best in the game.
While interacting with the media at a UFC press conference in Sydney, Adesanya was all praise for Bareman. 'The Last Stylebender' opined that Bareman's insight into the game and his ability to give each of his fighters the required attention to guide them was a commendable aspect of the veteran coach.
Expressing his thoughts on Bareman, 'The Last Stylebender' said:
"Eugene, I've worked with, for a few years and I think his insight, his insight to the game and also, put it this way, there was one, one of these days during this camp... I was watching him tell each guy how to do what they were doing, and it was like he was playing a video game. He was just so captivated... to make sure that they do what they needed to do, then move to this guy. And he was just in his element. Looked like a kid in a candy store."
Watch the full press conference below: