By now most of us know how Chael Sonnen is. The aging MMA fighter says pretty much whatever is on his mind, no matter how weird it sounds or how much trouble it might get him into. On Monday night, Sonnen somehow squeezed a Rihanna domestic violence joke into a discussion about Floyd Mayweather Jr.
The basis of Sonnen’s argument was that Mayweather is protecting his undefeated record by fighting “tomato cans that nobody has ever heard of.” He used that stance to toss in a tasteless joke that he had clearly rehearsed.
“I’ve never seen anybody in America get so rich and so famous off of having complete wimps throw punches at their face,” Sonnen said of Mayweather. “And I know what you’re saying, ‘Well it’s happened before, what about Rihanna?'”
You can watch a video clip of Sonnen’s comment at Deadspin. He then asked if his joke was “too soon,” to which many people would respond that there will never be a time when joking about beating a woman is acceptable.
Again, this was classic Sonnen. It wouldn’t be as bad if the joke accidentally slipped out, but he’s always looking to create headlines by saying something controversial or completely off the reservation. As this weird exchange with ESPN’s Sage Steele reminded us, Chael loves doing and saying idiotic things on camera.
