A Quote by Chael Sonnen

Every time you have a huge fight in wrestling, in boxing, in MMA, both guys are sure they're going to win. They really believe it. — © Chael Sonnen
Every time you have a huge fight in wrestling, in boxing, in MMA, both guys are sure they're going to win. They really believe it.
MMA is not jiu-jitsu. MMA is not boxing. MMA is not wrestling. It's a different kind of style of punching and wrestling and grappling on the ground.
While wrestling in college as a junior, it came to a point where wrestling just wasn't enough for me anymore. I love wrestling, but I felt like I was missing something, and so the striking part about MMA, the boxing and kickboxing, was what got me really interested in MMA.
There's a reason why MMA is only three five-minute rounds, or five fives when it's a title fight. MMA is so much more demanding on the body - the wrestling, the changing levels, all that takes a lot out of you. Boxing is a breeze for us after MMA.
While wrestling in college as a junior it came to a point where wrestling just wasn't enough for me anymore. I love wrestling, but I felt like I was missing something, and so the striking part about MMA, the boxing and kickboxing, was what got me really interested in MMA. I saw it on TV and I just knew that I wanted to do it.
I started doing MMA and boxing at the same time - I always wanted to try an MMA fight to see what it was like. I had one fight, and I was hooked.
For me, boxing's like checkers, and MMA's like chess - there are so many ways to win the match. It's not barbaric; it's boxing, kickboxing, Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, cardio and it's all reached such an amazing level. As fans learn more about the sport, they just fall in love with it.
A lot of guys get out of wrestling immediately after winning a gold medal. Every time another Olympics comes around, it's always a bunch of fresh faces. For me, to win an Olympic gold and have a chance to win another would be huge for our sport.
Reach, and all that other stuff, doesn't play as big a part in MMA as it does in boxing. Guys don't really fight with their length all that much, because they have to worry about the takedown or kicks. They have to worry about so many other things that they can't just fight real tall.
But wrestling used to be the same as boxing or mixed martial arts. It used to be about conflict, having a fight, who's going to win.
Wrestling is different than MMA or boxing or really any other contact sport in that you can't really draw along an opponent.
People shy away from it [MMA] because they think it's a brutal, brutal sport, and I've said, 'Guys, MMA is safer than football and boxing,... And people tell me they don't believe it. Am I not the most credible person to give you the answer to that?
I don't know which one is harder - going from MMA to wrestling or from wrestling to MMA.
Back when the UFC first started, I wanted to see what MMA was all about; at the time, I was training with Tank Abbott, and so I went to see him fight. While at the fight, I saw this guy fighting that I just crushed in high school wrestling, and I thought, 'Hey, I'm a street fighter, and I have a wrestling background,' so I gave it a shot.
Guys want to go out here and get the job done. Guys want to fight. We're going to fight and grind every single pitch and try and do anything we can to help win games.
Boxing is not that complicated. If two guys want to fight, it's not hard to make a fight. If the fight's not made, it's because one party doesn't want that fight, or maybe both parties don't want it.
Forward, always moving forward, from the time I can remember - a kid. I was short, and the big guys would take advantage; I had to turn myself into a body puncher. By that time I was in reform school, they'd have a boxing match every week; they'd bring guys in from outside to fight me.
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