(Video courtesy of YouTube/StocktonHeyBuddy)

Chael Sonnen appeared on Sherdog and IBN Sports’ Fight Week and he had some interesting things to say about a number of topics, including his upcoming fight with Brian Stann,  selling fights, smack talking and the allegations that his outspoken American Gangster persona is all an act.

For those of you who can’t watch because you’re at work, on a date or in church, here’s what Chael had to say about:

Whether or not he creates drama:

“You know, I don’t do any of that. I hear that said about, but I don’t manufacture conflict. If I don’t have a problem, I don’t manufacture one. There are some guys on the docket that I just don’t like and I let that be known. But there’s also some guys that I really do like that I’ve had to match up with from Okami to Marquardt, to Brian Stann.”

*I guess calling Okami the “boring anchor that drags fighters to the depths of the undercard” and Marquardt “a cheater” for testing positive for elevated levels of TRT (like he did a year earlier) were terms of endearment.

His upcoming fight with Stann, a man he has respect for:

“Brian was an extra uncomfortable match because we had just got done the setting up to fly out and train together for our upcoming opponents, so that news really hit us from out of the blue. But again, I don’t manufacture conflict. If I don’t mean it, I won’t say it.”

Whether or not he changed, personality-wise:

“I never felt like I ever changed even, as you put it, ‘to be outspoken.’ I never felt like I ever changed but I also didn’t have much of an audience before. Until you work your way up the card – until you get some of those promotional opportunities, you can’t get hurt no matter what your voice is. Everything’s different too. Email came out while I was in college. We didn’t have email. Now we’ve got all of these social networking sites and things like Twitter for example, which the UFC and Dana White in particular have greatly embraced. So it’s pretty easy to get your message out there if you’ve got something to say. But I don’t feel like I’ve ever changed, but some of my opportunities to be heard have gotten bigger.”

Whether or not he tries to sell his fights:

“I’m not in on the selling side of things. There’s a few guys that are, that are actually in on the pay-per-view. You got a guy like Brock Lesnar or Quinton Jackson – there’s a few guys who actually have an interest in selling a match. I don’t like that. I don’t even like the concept, I don’t even like to say it as we sit here now because I feel it’s dishonest. I feel if you are trying to get somebody to purchase something from you – even if it’s a fight, and you misrepresented why it is you’re fighting or what the conflict is, I just find that’s dishonest. And Brian and I, again to use your words of ‘selling a fight,’ we don’t have to have a conflict to sell the fight. It’s a number one contenders’ match. Whoever wins this bout is going to fight for the world title. And that is, again with your words, ‘the selling feature. ‘We don’t have to disparage either person to do that. We just find, ‘Hey, what is it that’s interesting about this match?’ and that’s what it is. The interesting part is the competition itself as opposed to maybe the build up before it. But I don’t get into that and I find it really frustrating when guys do. If you’ve got something to say and you mean it, say it. But if you don’t mean it, don’t say it. If I couldn’t bite, I wouldn’t growl.”

Guys hugging it out after all but threatening to kill each other leading up to the fight:

“That can be real. A lot of times you’ll have animosity and there’s a camaraderie that forms through that battle. Most wars that have been fought, at the end of the day you sit down and you work out a treaty and the two sides continue to work together. That’s not necessarily dishonest, but I do find it very frustrating when a guy grabs the microphone and flat out says, ‘Hey, I did all this to sell a fight.’ I find it flat out confusing when at times even when a UFC announcer part-way through an event that I paid $50 for, says, ‘All of that build-up, none of that was real. It was just created to create money.’ I’m like, ‘Well, give me my money back because you lied to me.’ That’s always bothered me.”

Being let down by a fight that had a classic lead-up:

“Mike Tyson and Lennox Lewis was a great build-up. Tyson was gonna – oh, my goodness – he was going to do everything in the world to Lennox and his family and his kids and when it was all over he said, ‘I didn’t mean any of that. I was just tryin’ to sell the fight.’ Well, then you’re a liar, Mike. You’re a liar on top of everything else, so… I don’t like that and I see people attempting to imitate me constantly, but they’re missing the boat. Don’t manufacture conflict. If you can get on the docket with somebody you don’t like, or you really do want to compete with somebody, you can have some interesting build-up there. Let them know why, but don’t make it up.”

Not having a psychological edge over Stann:

“People often talk to me about Brian and they say, ‘How are you going to get in brian’s head? What are you gonna do to get in Brian’s head?’ Do you not understand that this man went into enemy territory at 122-degree temperature, he put on 80 pounds of gear and literally fought a tank. What am I gonna do to get in his head? Nothing. Do you think he’s gonna be scared of me? He wouldn’t be scared of five of me. He’s taken on a tank in 122-degree weather, literally numerous times. So when I hear that whole concept, ‘Scare Brian Stann,’ that’s insane to me. That makes absolutely no sense, so that’s not something I’m going to try to do. One thing I’ll tell people is you’re going to see a battle of men. You’re not gonna see anyone walk to the ring with their little cotton belts and their little pyjamas on and bow at the cage door. You’re going to see two men go out and fight in Texas — God’s country — the home state of MY president, George W. Bush. We’re gonna go fight on October 5 and do you know why we’re gonna fight? Because we said we would. That’s a huge message. Because we said we would. How many times have we bought a ticket to an event because guys said they were going to fight and then they called in sick?”