Sonnen looks to send 'unmarketable' Okami to the trash heap

[Clark Kent]

10-23-2009 12:25 PM:

He's been trumpeted by many as the guy who should get a shot at Anderson Silva. But for all the Yushin Okami backers, there are just as many detractors. Heading that list may be his next opponent Chael Sonnen tomorrow at UFC 104.

Okami, a grappler who overwhelms opponents with ground control and size, has picked up three of his last four wins by decision. Sonnen's fighting style is very similar but he's not happy to be facing Okami:

"He's a step in the wrong direction. Unmarketable," Sonnen told UFC.com. "Not pleasing to watch and a horrible interview."

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Sonnen says the biggest negative is that he'll be forced to push the action:

"He doesn't do a whole lot. If I wanted to stand there and look at him, he would just stand and look at me back," Sonnen told Neil Davidson from the Canadian Press. "But if you go after him, he'll engage. If you go to mess around with him, that's when he'll turn it on. And he just keeps finding a way to win."

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Sonnen looked good his last time out against Dan Miller but is still upset that he didn't get to fight in homestate of Oregon at UFC 102:

"That would kind of been like a dream come true, fighting in the UFC in Portland," said Sonnen. "I'm, the one that got it legalized here in Oregon. I'm the one that fought the legislature and the Senate and lobbied the politicians and testified in the subcommittee and got the governor to sign the bill. . . . I was hoping to be on the card."

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So it's a little extra motivation for Sonnen, who needs to keep winning. As a media guy, you love his honesty but will his constant shots at UFC management cost him if he loses badly?



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[Dave Leverich]

War Chael!!