I helgen mötte Chael Sonnen Michael Bisping i en uppvisningsmatch i grappling på UR Fight. Men Sonnen hade kunnat få möta någon annan istället.
Det slutade oavgjort i den långsamma uppvisningsmatchen i grappling på UR Fight i helgen mellan Chael Sonnen (20-14-1) och Michael Bisping (28-7). Sonnen hade mer eller mindre fått uppdraget att hitta en motståndare i matchen och Bisping var inte hans förstahandsval. I en intervju med MMAFighting berättar Sonnen om hur det gick till när han letade efter någon som var villig att möta honom i uppvisningsmatchen och det var inte superlätt att fixa en motståndare. Det var nära att han fick med Nick Diaz (26-9. 2 NC) på detta.
Via BJPenn.com:
”I was kind of tasked with it. I was their connection to MMA. So the first guy I called was Randy Couture, and he accepted instantly. Then, while we were still on the phone, he went and looked at his calendar and was like, ’hey, I can’t even be in the state, I have (to film) a movie in a whole other state, I can’t be in Arizona.’ So he was out. I went to Forrest (Griffin). Forrest liked the idea, but he’s an executive at Zuffa right now, or whatever he is, and he didn’t think he could go anywhere else.
I went to Rashad (Evans); Rashad had a fight with Shogun (Rua) lined up. I went to Nick Diaz. Nick loved it. Nick was in. But then I didn’t hear back from him. We didn’t hear in time, and I was kind of telling him, hey, this is a rushed deal. I was getting ready to leave town myself to go film Celebrity Apprentice and I had to have it done in like 30 minutes. That didn’t work out. So I called Bisping and he accepted instantly, and that was it.”
När han fick frågan om Bisping skulle ha någon chans att vinna svarade han att han inte hade det men som bekant så var inte matchen lika lätt som han trodde att den skulle vara.
”Oh, he has no chance. He has absolutely no chance. I will lay on top of him for 15 minutes and then go home. I might submit him. I’m certainly going to try, but he’s not going to go anywhere. I’m going to take him down and whisper in his ear: ’welcome to the next 15 minutes of your life.'”
Hade ni hellre sett en match mellan Chael Sonnen och Nick Diaz?