Chael Sonnen: Francis Ngannou vs Ciryl Gane ‘Was A Borderline Crime’

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Chael Sonnen is not happy with the way the heavyweight division was promoted earlier this year.
With 2022 now behind us, everyone and their brother is releasing their list of awards and honors for best performances of the year, whether it be Fight of the Year, Fighter of the Year, Comeback of the Year, or something else.
This was the mindset that Chael Sonnen tried to put himself in when speaking in a recent video on his YouTube channel, with the task being to determine what the best fight of 2022 was, yet he ended up thinking through things in a different lens instead.
Chael Sonnen Disappointed With The Heavyweights
Photos via Instagram @francisngannou @ciryl_gane
The first pay-per-view of the year saw a heavyweight title clash in the main event, as Francis Ngannou overcame knee injury and contract drama to emerge victorious over Ciryl Gane. As exciting as that fight was, Sonnen explained that he believes that it was criminally under-promoted, and as such, became the biggest dud of a fight that 2022 had to offer.
“It was a borderline crime, what Francis and Ciryl did. There has never, and I do literally mean never, been a storyline in heavyweight history, like Francis and Ciryl, and if you’re smart marks, you know exactly what it was,” Sonnen explained.
“If you’re not a hardcore, and you don’t follow this close, you really want me to tell you what that storyline was, because you never heard it, did you? You never saw that media tour, you never saw that blitz. You never saw those two guys that were smart enough to become bilingual, so they could speak to a North American audience, go out and do news shows of sports, promoting, or talking about, or hyping that fight at all.”
Sonnen went on to explain that, aside from the bigger storylines related to drama between Francis Ngannou and the UFC, a fight that saw two champions fighting for one title at heavyweight, and between former training partners no less, should have been easy to promote. However, he feels like neither fighter did their part to do so.
“You don’t get things like this. They fall into your lap. And those guys went out of their way to make the world uninterested. I mean, that would be one of the biggest stories of 2022 for me,” Sonnen explained.
Now, there is certainly a lot of factors that went into how Francis Ngannou vs Ciryl Gane was promoted, but Chael Sonnen does bring up some interesting points. It is not completely without merit for him to call this fight something of a dud, relative to expectations, but that ultimately depends on where your expectations were for the fight to begin with.
What do you think was the biggest dud of the year in 2022?
Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.

Chael Sonnen is not happy with the way the heavyweight division was promoted earlier this year.


With 2022 now behind us, everyone and their brother is releasing their list of awards and honors for best performances of the year, whether it be Fight of the Year, Fighter of the Year, Comeback of the Year, or something else.


This was the mindset that Chael Sonnen tried to put himself in when speaking in a recent video on his YouTube channel, with the task being to determine what the best fight of 2022 was, yet he ended up thinking through things in a different lens instead.


Chael Sonnen Disappointed With The Heavyweights
Francis-Ngannou-Ciryl-Gane-1024x576.jpg.optimal.jpg
Photos via Instagram @francisngannou @ciryl_gane
The first pay-per-view of the year saw a heavyweight title clash in the main event, as Francis Ngannou overcame knee injury and contract drama to emerge victorious over Ciryl Gane. As exciting as that fight was, Sonnen explained that he believes that it was criminally under-promoted, and as such, became the biggest dud of a fight that 2022 had to offer.


“It was a borderline crime, what Francis and Ciryl did. There has never, and I do literally mean never, been a storyline in heavyweight history, like Francis and Ciryl, and if you’re smart marks, you know exactly what it was,” Sonnen explained.


“If you’re not a hardcore, and you don’t follow this close, you really want me to tell you what that storyline was, because you never heard it, did you? You never saw that media tour, you never saw that blitz. You never saw those two guys that were smart enough to become bilingual, so they could speak to a North American audience, go out and do news shows of sports, promoting, or talking about, or hyping that fight at all.”


Sonnen went on to explain that, aside from the bigger storylines related to drama between Francis Ngannou and the UFC, a fight that saw two champions fighting for one title at heavyweight, and between former training partners no less, should have been easy to promote. However, he feels like neither fighter did their part to do so.


“You don’t get things like this. They fall into your lap. And those guys went out of their way to make the world uninterested. I mean, that would be one of the biggest stories of 2022 for me,” Sonnen explained.

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Now, there is certainly a lot of factors that went into how Francis Ngannou vs Ciryl Gane was promoted, but Chael Sonnen does bring up some interesting points. It is not completely without merit for him to call this fight something of a dud, relative to expectations, but that ultimately depends on where your expectations were for the fight to begin with.


What do you think was the biggest dud of the year in 2022?


Please provide transcription credit with a link to this article if you use any of these quotes.




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