(See, this only looks like a picture of Chael Sonnen getting arm-barred by Jeremy Horn at UFC 60. It’s actually just a clever Chael Sonnen impersonator. PicProps: Susumu)
So in a nutshell, here’s what Chael Sonnen would currently have us believe about his “fake” Twitter feed: Back in February, some enterprising imposter started an account in Sonnen’s name for the purpose of … well, we’re not sure exactly why … but over the next four months only used the account to post a grand total of 10 tweets (two of which link to Sonnen’s website) and did such a good job parroting the middleweight’s distinctively crazy voice that not only did no one notice the charade, but the UFC’s official twitter feed and Sonnen’s own “official campaign” Twitter account both became followers of the "fake" Chael Sonnen.
At least that’s the story Sonnen seemed to be sticking to as recently as Friday, when he appeared on stage for a Q&A session with luminaries from the UFC Fight Club in Vancouver and again reportedly claimed that he does not have a Twitter account. This despite the small matter of a video from a couple months back where he not only admits it to Ariel Helwani (at about the 45:40 mark) but spells out the “fake” account’s address so we can all find it.
Apparently, if someone is impersonating Chael Sonnen on Twitter, they’re doing such a great job that even he thought it was his real account for a while there.
As he is wont to do, Sonnen spent the bulk of his time at the Q&A badmouthing Anderson Silva and also dismissed Georges St. Pierre‘s interest in giving Olympic wrestling a shot. It’s thus far been those comments that have nabbed the headlines. Case in point:
“(Silva) has a black belt from the Nogueira brothers, but to me, a black belt from the Nogueira brothers is like a free toy in a Happy Meal,” Sonnen said. “One (of the Nogueira brothers) is a punching bag. The other, I just ignore.”
And on the topic of St. Pierre’s Olympic dreams …
"In fairness, (GSP) is not going to make an Olympic (wrestling) team …," Sonnen said. “I think he could probably be a top-10 guy. He wouldn’t break into the top six – and not because he’s not a good enough athlete, but (in the U.S.) these are young kids that have been doing it since they were eight, nine years old.”
His continued denial of the Twitter account got only a passing reference in Kevin Iole’s most recent column, which is kind of amazing when you consider that Sonnen seems to be so obviously lying about it.
Clearly the “truth” has long been a fluid concept in the former WEC champion’s world. We knew that prior to his UFC 109 bout with Nate Marquardt when he claimed in an interview with Old Dad that he had no idea Marquardt had fought Anderson Silva back in 2007. Was that true? Maybe, but it appears more likely that Sonnen just wanted to say that Marquardt “hadn’t fought anyone” in the UFC, so he bent the facts to fit his storyline.
Ordinarily, that wouldn’t be such a bad trait for a fighter whose job description involves hyping events and selling pay-per-views. But since Sonnen is also a Republican candidate for the Oregon State Legislature, his unabashed willingness to just say whatever comes into his mind – regardless of its basis in actual fact — is kind of awe-inspiring. It’s also going to draw more attention. That some of the things that allegedly came to mind recently for the aspiring politician were a tad culturally insensitive eventually caught the eye of The Huffington Post, and that’s what started this whole Twitter debacle.
If Sonnen really did post those nasty things about Silva on Twitter, you’d think getting caught and then trying to bluff his way out of it might threaten his self-styled image as a hard-working, straight-talking badass, but that would involve a small amount of introspection on Sonnen’s part … and that seems far-fetched.
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If Chael Sonnen’s Twitter account did not exist, man would have to invent it.