There are few people in the fight game better at PR than Chael Sonnen.
Consider Vitor Belfort.
He was popped for steroids while fighting in Pride and was one of the main benefactors of the Nevada State Athletic Commission allowing exemptions for Testosterone Replacement Therapy. Even though he has not failed a drug test since the ban on TRT came into effect, the Brazilian legend still can’t quite shake that “cheater” label.
Chael Sonnen also used TRT and was handed a two-year ban from MMA in 2014 due to multiple failed drug tests after testing positive for banned substances such as Human Growth Hormones and EPO. Yet, for some reason, Sonnen is still very much well-liked in the MMA community.
The difference between the two fighters is simple – Sonnen is a master of PR.
Lie, cheat, steal. https://t.co/KaQg4ebJso
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) October 10, 2016
Another fighter who knows a thing or two about self-promotion and generating hype is Conor McGregor. He is the biggest superstar in the sport, aside from maybe the returning Ronda Rousey, and like Sonnen, a lot of his popularity has come because of his ability to talk into a mic.
While the Notorious’ acerbic tongue has garnered him a huge fan base, it has also turned him into one of the most polarising individuals in the sport. His haters may be just as passionate as his hardcore supporters, but eyes are eyes and the numbers don’t lie.
Sonnen has a very simple way to make McGregor a little more endearing to the supporters, as he explained on a recent episode of his podcast “You’re Fired”.
“Conor’s got to put somebody over. He can pick a guy and it can be from a different generation, it can be right now, it can be from a different weight class, it can be from his weight class, but he has to put somebody over.
“Psychologically, when you’re telling the fans, ‘I’m the greatest, I’m the greatest and everybody else sucks,’ at some point you’re going to lose them. He just needs to pick a guy. Grab a Carlos Condit, someone random. Again, it doesn’t need to be someone he ever has to match up with and then admit that he admires that guy.”
Sonnen’s been in McGregor’s shoes before. When he was fighting Anderson Silva for the second time, he was arguably the face (and the voice) of the world’s biggest MMA promotion. However, he admitted that when he was making a conscious effort to play up to his “American Gangster” persona while doing media work, it became a bit tiresome.
“It becomes too much of a shtick and it is a shtick, and I ended up in his spot too. I like doing the organic stuff. You have no idea what’s coming at you, you hit the ball and move forward. When you’re tasked with as much media as he is, and I used to have to be in that seat, all of a sudden it’s gimmicky. I was doing poems at one point, it was getting great clicks, people cared about them, but at the same time, it’s not organic, it’s scripted and it’s not real.”
He suggests that McGregor avoid falling into the same trap that he did by sometimes moving away from the character he portrays and being more honest with his fans. Sonnen noticed him doing this during UFC 196’s post-fight press conference, shortly after Nate Diaz submitted him.
“If Conor wants to keep the audience psychologically, he’s got to at some point level with them. There’s really nothing more endearing for Conor as a fan than when Diaz kicked his ass and Conor immediately went to the press conference all banged up, all beat up, tipped his hat to Diaz, did interviews, said ‘This one is really tough. I didn’t see this one coming. He hurt me, he surprised me, he got me exhausted.” When it came out it was really real.”
Sonnen believes that if McGregor showed this side of himself more often, it could really play into his favour. Although he confessed that this would probably be his only piece of advice for the featherweight champion, as he’s already doing an exceptional job of promoting himself.
“Once you get them in he can always go back to the character, but he’s got put someone over at some point, otherwise it just becomes too much of shtick. That would be maybe my only piece of advice to Conor. People need to learn and steal from Conor much more than critique him. That’s the one area where he could bring more people in. Just a little bit more honesty.”
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