Chael Sonnen reacts to recent Conor McGregor vs. Machine Gun Kelly incident

Former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen reacted to the recent Conor McGregor vs. Machine Gun Kelly incident at the MTV VMAs last week in New York.

McGregor and MGK got into a highly publicized altercation on the red carpet last week. Following that incident, UFC analyst Daniel Cormier suggested that McGregor’s gimmick has overtaken who is he as a person. It was an interesting comment from DC, but Sonnen isn’t totally sure he agrees with it. As far as Sonnen is concerned, you have to live the gimmick, which is what McGregor does. But where Sonnen agrees with DC is that there needs to be a clearer separation between who McGregor the fighter is and who McGregor the person is.

“How you stay in character is you take it from the ring, to your real life. If Hulk Hogan was to book a reservation for a restaurant, he doesn’t call up and say ‘hey table for two, Terry Bollea,’ he will book it under Hulk Hogan. He will live the gimmick. If you live the gimmick and the character at all times, you can then do what Daniel is talking about, which is mark out for your own gimmick. I’m just not sure where within Conor’s schtick, he had to be a prick,” Sonnen said (h/t BloodyElbow). “He was aggressive towards opponents. He would show up late to his own press conference. He would make people clamor to come watch him when he was about to warm up — when he had a match for sale on pay-per-view. These were the brilliant things, these were the entertainer. But I can’t dismiss what Daniel Cormier said, where it does appear that there needs to be a more distinct separation between the person and the character.”

Do you agree with what Chael Sonnen said about Conor McGregor?