Chael Sonnen knows a thing or two about trash-talking, and he has given his take on the backlash Conor McGregor has received following UFC 264.
McGregor’s trilogy bout with Dustin Poirier didn’t end the way most envisioned. After some exciting action in the opening frame that saw McGregor stay busy with kicks and Poirier landing some ground-and-pound, the fight was stopped at the conclusion of round one as the “Notorious” one broke his tibia.
After the fight, McGregor was interviewed by UFC color commentator Joe Rogan. During the interview, McGregor slammed Poirier and his wife, Jolie. He went as far as to call Jolie a “little hoe.” Off-camera, he even made gun signs and threatened to kill Dustin and Jolie. McGregor took things a step further, tweeting and deleting scathing threats to Poirier.
Chael Sonnen took to his YouTube channel to say that while he doesn’t agree with the antics from McGregor, he does feel some of the backlash needs to be peeled back a bit (h/t SportsKeeda.com).
“Sometimes, I do wonder if people were never taught this. My mother taught us very early – Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. It’s one of those things where you want a guy to be injured. You want a guy to be hurt because he said something in a mean tone that hurt your (feelings). I don’t know about that. Joe Rogan was not wrong, but I would ask that you also give a little bit of pause to the hatred towards Conor McGregor.
“Things have changed very drastically for him, at least in this side of things. And I hear people taking shots at Conor McGregor all the time, or they pull him down, or they treat him unfairly. There’s some level of scumbag to Conor. And then they will always justify it by going, ‘Well, he’s really rich’. I don’t really have any idea what that; you think he doesn’t have feelings? You don’t think that he has the right to care about his career?”
Sonnen then suggested that people should give McGregor a pass because of his injury. He also doesn’t disagree with the UFC’s decision to let Rogan interview McGregor following the injury.
Do you agree with Chael Sonnen’s take on the Conor McGregor backlash?
