The Gangster from Oregon Chael Sonnen spoke recently with
Duane Finley for
FloCombat, ahead of his fight with Wanderlei Silva in the main event of Bellator 180 on June 24 at Madison Square Garden. Ronda Rousey is the most famous figure in mixed martial arts history, and despite her apparent retirement, remains a frequent topic of discussion.
“Somewhere along the line the word ‘fighter’ became corrupted in my lifetime,” he said. “It used to be about who could get up and move forward when the chips were down. Who could get up and move forward when it was the toughest thing to do. That’s what a fighter was, but now I have no idea what the kids of today would define a fighter as.
“I read some stuff that Ronda put out – and I’m a personal fan of hers – but I was stunned at some of the stuff I read. It had me sitting there saying, ‘Ronda, you’re not a fighter. You understand one thing and that’s aggression. When someone is standing there who sucks, you understand how to attack that person. That is called aggression.’
“Fighting is when it’s hard. Fighting is when that person is coming back at you with equal or greater resistance. That’s what a fighter is, and when it doesn’t go your way and you want to stay in bed in the morning, when that alarm goes off you get your ass up, put your boots on and you go face the world. That’s what a fighter does.”
