Chael Sonnen heaped praise on a heavyweight athlete from ONE Championship as he dug up his archives. One of the most notorious names in MMA history, ‘The American Gangster’ disclosed an intriguing story about a training session he and former UFC dual champion Daniel Cormier had with the then 23-year-old athlete in 2013.
‘The Bad Guy’, known for his storytelling skills, has built a decent platform for himself with his take on MMA. And here and there, the former multi-division title challenger in different promotions reveals chilling training session tales.
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Adding on to the legacy, Sonnen had a story about the 32-year-old jiujitsu legend ‘Buchecha’ Marcus Almeida, who has signed with ONE Championship and has been nothing but dominant.
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‘The People’s champ’ said, “I was working at Fox, and one of the people that I was working with was Daniel Cormier. Daniel Cormier said, ‘hey, let’s go meet for a workout but I’m going to bring this guy [Marcus Almeida] in. We got to pay him 300 bucks for an hour, so let’s both put a 150, and I can get Buchecha there.”
Cormier’s comment about paying an athlete for working out surprised Sonnen as ‘DC‘ was a big entity in the MMA space. Thus, he asked the Olympian what was special about Buchecha.
Sonnen described how Cormier responded and stated, “Daniel said, ‘because he’s so good, he can’t get anything out of the workout, he can’t get anything from working out with me. It’s a waste of his time, so I need to pay him for that time.'”
‘The Bad Guy’ was shocked to hear Cormier lauding a 23-year-old and added what ‘DC’ told him, “Daniel says, ‘yeah, he’s gonna whip your a** just as bad.'”
What happened in the practice session?
Sonnen described how the session went and said, “So, Buchecha stays in now, this is just jiujitsu. Buchecha stays in and Daniel and I rotate on him for 44 minutes. He was worth every cent. I don’t know how I got to work with that guy and only had to pay 150. He ran through us.”
Read More – Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida Shows MMA Evolution; Secures Third Straight First Round Finish at ONE 158
The former UFC title challenger added having Cormier by his side getting beat by a 23-year-old helped check his own ‘ego’.
How is Marcus ‘Buchecha’ Almeida doing in ONE Championship?
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The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu specialist has looked phenomenal in his ONE Championship run so far. The 32-year-old has made definitive statements in all of his three fights at The Home of Martial Arts. All of his bouts have been first-round finishes.
Buchecha’s next fight will take place at ONE on Prime Video 1 on August 26. He will square off against Kirill Grishenko. Adriano Moraes vs. Demetrious Johnson II – One of the biggest fights in ONE history will headline the card.
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What do you make of Chael Sonnen’s story? Share your thought in the comments section below.