EXCLUSIVE | Chael Sonnen blasts the “crybabies” who criticized Michael Bisping’s quick turnaround

Back in early November, Michael Bisping surrendered the UFC middleweight title to Georges St-Pierre, succumbing to a rear-naked choke after absorbing quite a bit of punishment. In an effort to bounce back from this loss as quickly as possible, Bisping then accepted a short notice fight with the cinderblock-fisted Kelvin Gastelum, replacing former champion Anderson Silva. While some people applauded Bisping for this get-up-and-go attitude, others scolded him (and the UFC) for booking the fight so soon after his concussive loss to St-Pierre.

If you’re one of the people who criticized Bisping for taking this risk, Chael Sonnen has a message for you. He gave his take on the situation on the latest episode of BJ Penn Radio.

“I loved it,” Sonnen said of Bisping’s willingness to accept the short-notice fight. “I thought it was great, Bisping’s stock for me went up [despite his loss]. Bisping’s one of the few tough guys in this sport, everybody’s got a big mouth, but very few guys sign contracts. We’re seeing this right now with their biggest star, and all the other guys that that don’t want to fight one another. Given an opportunity in a sport that you’re not entitled to do, that you’re blessed to do… You said that you wanted to do it, then you can’t get guys to step in there. They’re a bunch of freaking cowards and Bisping is one exception, where he actually will step in and fight whenever he’s asked to.”

“He had a backlash from people,” Sonnen continued. “What a bunch of crybabies, man. The only bad thing that this sport has is that we only get to fight a few times a year. Again, back when this started, tournaments, it was multiple guys in one night. Some of my best memories, I was fighting two guys in one night and I missed the big wave. I missed the eight-man tournaments. When I came along it was only four man tournaments. I got to fight a couple of guys in one night, but I grew up taking on four or five and six guys every single Saturday.”

“Not only are the fighters a bunch of wimps, now the fans are turning into wimps and saying that three weeks apart, for a grown man, that used to be world champion, who can answer for himself, and he says he wants to do it? What a bunch of babies.”

Do you agree with Chael Sonnen on this one?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 30/11/2017.