- Chael Sonnen shared his bold analysis of Conor McGregor and Jon Jones’ statements ahead of the pair’s long-awaited UFC return
- “The Bad Guy” thinks “The Notorious” has hinted at his humility while “Bones” has only been vague about what motivates him ahead of his heavyweight debut
Chael Sonnen speculates that there was a certain amount of humility in Conor McGregor at this point and it was revealed when he addressed the recent The Ultimate Fighter Season 31 controversy. Also, “The Bad Guy” is interested to know what it is about Cyril Gane that scares Jon Jones.
A rare McGregor
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Sonnen explained how he perceived McGregor’s recent comment about allegations of him kicking out TUF 31 contestants and replacing them with his own guys.
According to the former light heavyweight title contender, the fact that the flamboyant and boastful McGregor said he’s just focused on getting back implies that “The Notorious” accepts that people think he’s no longer the fighter he once was and he needs to convince them he’s still a championship-caliber fighter.
“Connor went a little bit further in this and he said I’m just trying to get my own name back in the mix okay great stop everything. Stop everything. That was an extremely rare peek behind the curtain that was probably even a mistake, probably something that Connor swallowed real deep and thought ‘I shouldn’t have said that. I wished I wouldn’t have said that’ it was a very rare look behind the curtain,” Sonnen began.
“Connor said I’m just trying to get my own name back out so there’s a lot of truth to that. There’s a humility that comes with that but it’s not anything that Connor has ever said before or that he would say and I do think that you got a quick look behind the curtain but now I just think we found it… Now we have our answer of does Conor understand that being out with an injury, does he understand that returning after, that it matters, that it affects that, that you’re not a shoe-in that just because you had multiple World Championships and this guy doesn’t, doesn’t mean if you guys meet up now but everything’s gonna be cool in the game right?… It looks like Connor gets it,” he continued.
Jon needs to be specific
Sonnen went on and pointed out that as opposed to McGregor, Jones seems to be harder to interpret. As per “The Bad Guy,” if it’s true that “Bones” was motivated to move up to heavyweight because he wants to feel fear again, he should at least be specific about what he’s scared of about his UFC 285 opponent Ciryl Gane.
“If you read something and you got it from John, you don’t know if it’s the truth. You just simply won’t know. He comes out and he does an interview and says I wasn’t scared, he’s talking about being at 205 pounds, he wasn’t scared anymore, quit watching tape on these guys, quit staying up late at night worried about these guys, he wasn’t scared he said. So, I wanted to go up the heavyweight where I could get that fear back,” Sonnen said.
He continued, “I guess he’s scared of Ciryl Gane, am I supposed to interpret that you’re scared of Ciryl Gane, who’s one and one in his last two and called you the GOAT and basically was drooling when asked about you, you’re scared of him? I’m open to hearing that fair enough, what part what is it that you’ve seen Ciryl Gane do that you haven’t seen in other opponents? What part of that is fearful? I would personally be interested in that. I don’t have to know.”
Both Jones and McGregor are attempting to make an epic return this year. Jones will face Gane for the vacant UFC heavyweight title in his heavyweight debut at UFC 285. McGregor, meanwhile, will take on his TUF 31 rival coach Michael Chandler in the show’s season finale.
