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[Cat--Smasher]

UFC middleweight challenger Chael Sonnen advocates forfeiture to stop injury bug

"I think there should be forfeiture," he today told MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com).

Should a fighter withdraw, Sonnen said, he would take a loss on his professional record.

"It's not realistic with the architecture that we have, but we're the only sport where you can just not show up," he said.

"Every event is set. The Super Bowl for 2015. The kickoff time, the venue – it's set. If one team doesn't want to show up, a Super Bowl champion will be crowned that day."

Sonnen and champ Silva (31-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) headline UFC 148, which takes place July 7 at MGM Grand Garden Arena. The event's main card airs live on pay-per-view while preliminary-card fights air on FX and Facebook.

Sonnen (27-11-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) said his pre-fight schedule virtually guarantees he'll get sick the week of the fight. The one time he felt healthy beforehand, against Demian Maia at UFC 95, he got "rolled up so bad" that he blocks it from his memory.

The point is, he fights regardless of how he feels, and everyone else should too.

"My father was a plumber," Sonnen said. "I would never disrespect him by not showing up to an athletic competition that has a maximum duration of 25 minutes. I hear guys talking, 'I pulled a hamstring.' What does that have to do with anything? That's a button off of my shirt. 'Aw, I broke a finger – button fell off my shirt, let's sew this back on.' What possibly does it have to do with walking across the ring and beating a guy up? It's ridiculous.

"We have a Mike Tyson quote (he stole that from me): 'The military is at war right now. A soldier gets confronted on the battlefield. He doesn't say, "Get on a scale. You know, I'm not feeling good, can we reschedule this a week from now?" That's not real life, and if you give your word that you're going to do something, you need to do it."

It's even more bothersome to the UFC middleweight title challenger that fighters talk about injuries following a fight.

"I appreciate it when Junior (Dos Santos) beat Cain Velasquez; I think Cain is so scary," Sonnen said. "And Junior tarnishes it by saying he was hurt. Because he's not trying to tell you he was hurt – he's attempting to paint a picture. And picture is, 'As good as I did, I'm even better had I been healed.' It's absurd. You just trained for a cage fight. We would expect that you don't feel that good. It's extremely redundant to say that."

Perhaps surprisingly, Sonnen, or Chael P., doesn't take issue with the claim that Silva was suffering from a rib injury prior to their first meeting at UFC 117, which ended when Silva submitted him in the fifth round after a four-plus round beating by Sonnen as the challenger.

"It's great marketing," Sonnen said. "It works. People go for it. It's (manager) Ed Soares marketing 101. Each Blackhouse guy, that's what they do. 'I was hurt.' And it's like a new thing. I completely believe you. I don't think you're lying. I just don't know what the relevance is."

But while Sonnen understands it might be good business for injured fighters to turn down matches that could damage their career, or worse yet, see them cut from the UFC, he believes that a real sportsman doesn't think that way.

And despite his disdain for the practice, he doesn't believe the injury bug is hurting the UFC's business.

"They still sell out shows," Sonnen said. "Numbers are still great, and the roster is so deep that sometimes the replacement fights are better. So it's not bad for business. I just don't understand it. There's so many fake tough guys in this sport. Man, you can get all the tattoos you want, and boast to everybody about how tough you are, but if you're not willing to make that walk when they call your name, it doesn't count."

UFC middleweight challenger Chael Sonnen advocates forfeiture to stop injury bug | MMAjunkie.com

[GangGreenWarrior]

I do somewhat agree to a part of what he is saying. It does seem like guys drop out way too much lately and not all of them are as injured as serious as others. And there is always a pre-recorded injury excuse for each fight. I just really wish someone other than Chael had said this so it won't immediately be shot down.

[xrjxarsonx]

^^^ agreed that if someone other than chael said this it would be more warmly received.

great point though about other team sports unable to call in sick or reschedule, although not completely a relevant comparison.

the idea of a forfeiture clause in the bout agreement makes sense to me though. if the fighter calls off the fight X number of days before hand it counts as a loss. maybe 3 or 4 weeks? somewhere just past the line when promotion has gone into full swing, and a fight falling through will hurt ticket sales, finding a suitable replacement, or card shuffling becomes a big deal.

i wonder how the new UFC insurance policy works, and how it might be effecting the seemingly recent injury plague. i can imagine before many fighters would just deal with an injury because they couldnt afford to go to a doctor and have it properly treated. but now that the UFC takes the bill more guys are making doctor visits more often, and therefore realizing their injury is more serious than they imagined.

i dont think people are getting more hurt than before, just now that its easier to see doctors the guys have a better idea whats actually wrong and obviously are looking out for themselves better.

[Uvall]

Originally Posted by xrjxarsonx

i wonder how the new UFC insurance policy works, and how it might be effecting the seemingly recent injury plague. i can imagine before many fighters would just deal with an injury because they couldnt afford to go to a doctor and have it properly treated. but now that the UFC takes the bill more guys are making doctor visits more often, and therefore realizing their injury is more serious than they imagined.

I have been thinking this same thing. I also wonder if it isn't partly a case of the Doc wanting more cash and knows he can get it. But I guess this last part is just my issue with not trusting doctors too terribly much....heh

[Kimbo> Rampage]

So if someone gets a legitimate injury and cannot fight, they should get a loss on their record...

yes great point...

We should strip GSP, Cruz, and Aldo of their title's, put a loss on their records and hand the belts to their opponents...

[Pasha K]

It is ridiculous to compare this with some sport team.
A team has for example 10 players, if one or 2 of them get injured, they find 2 replacements and the game goes on. It is not that the whole team gets injured.

In MMA the "team" is only one person, and if one person gets seriously injured then how is he supossed to compete? He should go and fight with a broken hand? lol not everybody is Tito Ortiz who goes and fights with a cracked skull hahahaha

[Pasha K]

Originally Posted by rampage9712

So if someone gets a legitimate injury and cannot fight, they should get a loss on their record...

yes great point...

We should strip GSP, Cruz, and Aldo of their title's, put a loss on their records and hand the belts to their opponents...

Exactly and if UFC implements this stupid idea by Sonnen then fighters would be so afraid of getting injured that they would considerably slow down their training process.
And that will lead to fighters coming to the fight in pretty bad shape.

[Kimbo> Rampage]

Originally Posted by Pasha K

Exactly and if UFC implements this stupid idea by Sonnen then fighters would be so afraid of getting injured that they would considerably slow down their training process.
And that will lead to fighters coming to the fight in pretty bad shape.

Yep although It seems that is how Sonnen likes his opponents...

Originally Posted by Pasha K

It is ridiculous to compare this with some sport team.
A team has for example 10 players, if one or 2 of them get injured, they find 2 replacements and the game goes on. It is not that the whole team gets injured.

In MMA the "team" is only one person, and if one person gets seriously injured then how is he supossed to compete? He should go and fight with a broken hand? lol not everybody is Tito Ortiz who goes and fights with a cracked skull hahahaha

Yes, there are always backups on teams. and worst case they can move some guys around on the roster.

The UFC will also find replacements... no one likes it but thats just how it is... Sonnen just spewing from the mouth again...

[Ashy Larry]

Originally Posted by rampage9712

So if someone gets a legitimate injury and cannot fight, they should get a loss on their record...

yes great point...

We should strip GSP, Cruz, and Aldo of their title's, put a loss on their records and hand the belts to their opponents...

Good point. At first i thought Sonnen made a decent point but it wouldn't make sense in the case of the title holders.

[GangGreenWarrior]

Well, we obviously won't take Chael's version of the rules to the letter but I would put some sort of time frame consideration into it. If a fighter drops out of a fight within a few weeks of a fight, putting a no contest on their record would be fair IMO. Imagine training to fight Rampage for 3 months and then finding out a week before the fight that you're now fighting Bader or someone with a completely different style. So the fighter who doesn't drop out might get screwed over by someone they hadn't trained to face. A legit injury months before the fight shouldn't affect their record though.