Former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen recently launched his own podcast, You’re Welcome With Chael Sonnen, on Podcast One. Sonnen has made headlines recently for being fired from the UFC and FOX Sports after failing two drug tests this year.
Sonnen is also a big wrestling fan, and even called the debut Battleground MMA pay-per-view earlier this month with WWE Hall of Famer Jim Ross. During a recent episode of his podcast, Sonnen – who has been known to stretch the truth and tell a fib here and there – claims that WWE offered him a $5 million contract, which he turned down.
“I was offered $5 million [WWE head] Vince McMahon… Now, I was still under contract with the UFC and I never took this to Dana,” Sonnen said (props to CageWriter for the transcription). “I handled it on my own. I told them ‘No’ and that was the end of that. I never told Dana White this story, but here’s why I didn’t tell him. I knew if I called Dana and said, ‘I’ve got a $5 million offer from Vince McMahon,’ Dana would have matched it.”
Sonnen said that he didn’t contact UFC President Dana White and have him match WWE’s offer because he didn’t want to be seen as disloyal.
“I don’t think anyone would have had hard feelings but I didn’t see myself that way,” Sonnen said.
