Chael Sonnen praises ONE Championship’s grappling divisions
MMA veteran Chael Sonnen is extremely impressed with what ONE Championship has been producing. With the announcement of ONE's first US-based event, Sonnen praised the organization, particularly its submission grappling scene.
The now-retired Chael Sonnen was an NCAA Division I wrestler who fought globally in multiple organizations such as the WEC, Pancrase, the UFC, and Bellator. He also runs the organization Chael Sonnen's Submission Underground, which has assembled some notable shows featuring submission grappling.
With Sonnen's perspective on submission grappling, he recognizes the quality of ONE's grappling divisions. On his YouTube channel, Sonnen explained:
"[ONE Championship] is putting money like bells and whistles, behind competitive grappling. [ONE] has the absolute and only the best grapplers alive."
See Chael Sonnen talking about ONE's submission grappling divisions below:
The MMA veteran also went on to discuss ONE's first event on US soil. Demetrious Johnson will be back in action looking to defend his ONE flyweight crown in a trilogy against Adriano Moraes in Colorado. The fight is booked for ONE on Prime Video 10 on May 5.
Chael Sonnen is right about ONE's grappling
Sonnen offers many bold, hot takes on the combat sports world. In this case, he's correct as ONE boasts some of the finest submission grappling athletes on earth today.
Most notably, Kade Ruotolo. Kade is the current ONE lightweight submission grappling world champion. He also set the record earlier in 2022 for becoming the youngest person in history to win the ADCC world championship at the age of just 19. His twin brother Tye also went undefeated in the ONE circle in 2022.
Additionally, ONE Championship has all-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu heavyweight greats such as Andre Galvao and Marcus 'Buchecha' Almeida. Almeida has earned a perfect MMA record thus far in ONE's heavyweight division and will look to further climb the competitive division ladder in 2023.
In an interview with ONE, 'Buchecha' stated that he is on track for a future shot at the ONE heavyweight world title:
“Among the heavyweights, I'm the guy who's been fighting the most, so I'm on the right track. I'm sure I'll get this chance to fight for the belt soon.”