On the latest edition of The MMA Hour, Chael Sonnen was critical of the recent behavior of UFC lightweight champion, Conor McGregor, and former UFC heavyweight champion, Fabricio Werdum.
Werdum got into a confrontation with polarizing welterweight Colby Covington last week in Sydney. During the altercation, Werdum appeared to hit the ATT man with a boomerang.
Sonnen, a fellow Oregon native of Covington’s, claimed that he sees nothing wrong with the American’s recent comments about Brazil, but insisted that Werdum getting physical with him was a “scumbag move” based on the disparity in size between the two.
“I love him,” Sonnen told Ariel Helwani when asked about Covington.
“I think he’s a ton of fun and what Werdum did was a scumbag move. This is the second time Werdum has done this, don’t forget. Last time we saw him get into somebody, it was 155-pound Tony Ferguson. It was just really weird. That’s my piece on that.
“As far as Colby goes, listen, if you wanna make an omelet you’ve got to crack a few eggs. I remind you, I know Tyron Woodley since way back when and I saw Tyron do that same thing.
“He had a little bit of a different approach, but don’t make a mistake, Tyron Woodley stuck his finger in every single chest and used every single microphone he had to get his opportunity too.
“He even set off on his own teammate and then did, he knocked him out too. Tyron was a guy that wanted to climb the mountain and wouldn’t let anyone stop him. Colby is just doing the same thing. I don’t think anybody could judge Colby in some kind of unfair light. He’s got his own approach.”
Covington filmed the exchange live on his Instagram account and called Werdum an anti-gay slur. Sonnen believed Covington overstepped the mark when he uttered the slur but believes the fact that he had been assaulted must be taken into account.
“I agree with you about the slur, that’s the one part that I was like, ‘ugh,’ but he was also just assaulted. I don’t know if one washes out the other, but I think it should be taken into consideration,” Sonnen said.
“The whole thing was weird. Why is Werdum sticking his nose in? It’s very bizarre.
“You know, Werdum is so good. He’s in the conversation to be one of the greatest heavyweights ever. He’s just a guy that’s so wide open and goes out there and fights. Werdum’s open to being knocked out in any fight because he’s so reckless, but that’s also what makes him so damn dynamic.
“Why would he get his feelings hurt about it when he’s living in California, man? Werdum had no standing in the matter. It was a scumbag move by Fabricio.”
Sonnen also weighed in on McGregor’s recent appearance at Bellator 187 where he scaled the cage fence in celebration with his teammate Charlie Ward before shoving referee Marc Goddard and slapping a Bellator official.
“He (McGregor) should be sanctioned,” Sonnen said.
“It was a scumbag move on multiple levels and I think it was made worse by not apologizing for it and saying I’m a scumbag trying to double down. It was just a bad look.
“The cool side of it, Conor loves his teammate. Conor wanted to celebrate with his teammate. I thought that was a cool thing. He’s stayed passionate, the guy was always passionate and true to his team, his coaches and his gym.
“But as far as a guy coming into the ring assaulting a referee, pushing him into a concussed fighter, slapping MJ — something has to happen. It was bad.
“I don’t think the world needs to fall down around Conor McGregor for this. Was it wrong to do? Yeah. There are still levels to punishment here. The guy didn’t do a murder, but it also wasn’t jaywalking. It wasn’t that far from jaywalking, it wasn’t a big thing that he did.
“It was still wrong and you’ve got to do something if they can.”
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