Chael Sonnen & The Legend of Stack O' Lee
"Police officer, how can it be?
You can 'rest everybody but cruel Stack O' Lee
That bad man, old, cruel Stack O' Lee
Billy de Lyon told Stack O' Lee, "Please don't take my life,
Sez I got two little babies, and a darlin' lovin' wife"
He's a bad man, old, cruel Stack O' Lee
"What I care about your two little babies, your darlin' lovin' wife?
Sez Ya done stole my Stetson hat, I'm bound to take your life"
That bad man, old cruel Stack O' Lee
Boom-boom, boom-boom, went a forty-four
When I spied poor Billy de Lyon, he was lyin' down in the floor"
You can 'rest everybody but cruel Stack O' Lee
That bad man, old, cruel Stack O' Lee
Billy de Lyon told Stack O' Lee, "Please don't take my life,
Sez I got two little babies, and a darlin' lovin' wife"
He's a bad man, old, cruel Stack O' Lee
"What I care about your two little babies, your darlin' lovin' wife?
Sez Ya done stole my Stetson hat, I'm bound to take your life"
That bad man, old cruel Stack O' Lee
Boom-boom, boom-boom, went a forty-four
When I spied poor Billy de Lyon, he was lyin' down in the floor"
After every big fight come the accusations. If the fight is big enough, as in Saturday’s Siva/Sonnen epic, they tend to linger like an STD after an insufficient dose of penicillin. Throw in a hint of controversy and you have the stuff of legend. Suddenly, every question becomes an allegation of bias, with visions of rabid fans clinging to the testicular region of their favorite fighter like remoras on a shark. It is as old as sport itself—and fuel for the fire.
All those who suggest that Sonnen is thru after losing to Silva seem to forget how he got here in the first place—a combination of world class wrestling and the greatest gift for bullshit since Muhammad Ali. If he never won another fight, never competed again in any arena, he would have had a helluva career.
He was the reason that we tuned in, put up our bucks, and made Saturday’s fight the biggest MMA match in the history of the sport. As a set-up, we watched every time he opened his mouth and began to riff like Charlie Parker running a set of rhythm changes. Amazingly, he was able to keep it up for two years, pulling back just enough to not overplay his hand, and he managed to beat a couple of world class fighters at the same time.
Sonnen compelled a good deal of the sports-loving world to hang on his every word, no small feat considering that many major media outlets are as comfortable with MMA as a Pentecostal Preacher at a Cannibal Corpse concert.
In the ring he could be relentless, a Raging Bull to Anderson Silva’s Ray Robinson. But with so much bragadocious talk, he raised the performance bar to impossible heights. The general wisdom was that, if he didn’t win, there would be nowhere to go but down.
There is another way to look at it, however, he almost certainly made a whole lot of money, and so did Anderson Silva and the UFC. If there’s any justice at all, he’ll go on to fight Vanderlei Silva, which would be a major draw and a barn burner of a fight. Matches with Vitor Belfort and Mark Munoz or a rematch with Michael Bisping would all be major events—or how about Chael and Vanderlei as coaches on a season of The Ultimate Fighter. Imagine a couple of months of the “Chael Show” with vanderlei as a vicious counterbalance to Sonnen’s verbal acumen. Either way, it’s only over, if Chael says it’s over, and that would be a shame. There’s simply way too much entertainment to be had.
Mark Magula
All those who suggest that Sonnen is thru after losing to Silva seem to forget how he got here in the first place—a combination of world class wrestling and the greatest gift for bullshit since Muhammad Ali. If he never won another fight, never competed again in any arena, he would have had a helluva career.
He was the reason that we tuned in, put up our bucks, and made Saturday’s fight the biggest MMA match in the history of the sport. As a set-up, we watched every time he opened his mouth and began to riff like Charlie Parker running a set of rhythm changes. Amazingly, he was able to keep it up for two years, pulling back just enough to not overplay his hand, and he managed to beat a couple of world class fighters at the same time.
Sonnen compelled a good deal of the sports-loving world to hang on his every word, no small feat considering that many major media outlets are as comfortable with MMA as a Pentecostal Preacher at a Cannibal Corpse concert.
In the ring he could be relentless, a Raging Bull to Anderson Silva’s Ray Robinson. But with so much bragadocious talk, he raised the performance bar to impossible heights. The general wisdom was that, if he didn’t win, there would be nowhere to go but down.
There is another way to look at it, however, he almost certainly made a whole lot of money, and so did Anderson Silva and the UFC. If there’s any justice at all, he’ll go on to fight Vanderlei Silva, which would be a major draw and a barn burner of a fight. Matches with Vitor Belfort and Mark Munoz or a rematch with Michael Bisping would all be major events—or how about Chael and Vanderlei as coaches on a season of The Ultimate Fighter. Imagine a couple of months of the “Chael Show” with vanderlei as a vicious counterbalance to Sonnen’s verbal acumen. Either way, it’s only over, if Chael says it’s over, and that would be a shame. There’s simply way too much entertainment to be had.
Mark Magula
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