Chael Sonnen says Ronda Rousey was a product of the media like ‘wimps’ Bruce Lee and Gene LeBell

Although he has stepped away from fighting, former UFC title contender Chael Sonnen can still get in the shots like the best of them.

Sonnen recently was a guest on Submission Radio and boldly talked about former dominant UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, and how the media inflated her to be greater than she actually is.

Transcribed via Bloody Elbow:

“So the division, you know, when a division sucks and you’re an analyst and you wanna be respected in the sport, you can’t come out and say a division sucks. It doesn’t sound right, particularly when you talk about women,” he said. “So you have to change your words and say ‘well the division is developing’. So gentlemen, I will say to you now… the division is developing.”

Sonnen went on to talk about how the media builds and creates legends, and how geography plays a key role into all of it.

“Now, anybody that is created by the media has one thing in common and that is Los Angles, California. I’ll explain,” Sonnen states. “Bruce lee, who everybody covets as this wonderful fighter. Bruce Lee was a wimp. Bruce Lee couldn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag.”

“But he lived in Los Angles, California, so he was able to bring people that were in the media: producers, directors, future actors. He took them in their backyard, he kicked their ass, he was a wimp. But he found people who were wimpier than he was and eventually they got to media outlets and TV and movies and they all spread the legend of Bruce Lee. So good for him.”

“You know, there’s a guy named Judo Gene LeBell. I don’t want to tease Gene LeBell. He’s a thousand years old, but Gene LeBell has this huge myth around him that he was some kind of a tough guy,” he said. “Gene LeBell in his prime could not make the varsity wrestling team at my local high school. But he lived in Los Angeles, California, so he’d bring guys into his garage and he’d put them in armbars and chokeholds. And again, Gene LeBell was a wimp but the guys that he beat up were bigger wimps, and they went on to make it in TV and movies and they went and spread the legend.”

“And that’s the way it goes. I mean, you could keep going down the list. Steven Segal, all these myths – Van Damme. All these guys that suck, they all had one thing in common. That was Los Angeles, California,” he said. “So Ronda lived in Los Angeles, California – that’s where she lives right now – so she can get major media outlets and major people that are famous and have a voice, you know, to go out and perpetuate things.”

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