Chael Sonnen is actively preparing for a highly unusual international journey next week. The outspoken UFC legend recently revealed he was directly recruited by the Russian government to attend a massive wrestling event. This astonishing claim adds another complicated chapter to his lengthy relationship with Eastern European combat sports.
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“I’m going to Russia next week,” Sonnen told interviewer Matan Even. “I do want to be smart. I do want to be smart. And, but no, I’m getting brought over by Putin. I mean, the actual government is bringing us over, and we’re going for a wrestling event.”
The former middleweight title challenger expressed absolute confidence regarding his personal safety abroad.
“But wrestlers are treated very different in certain parts of the world. Iran is one of them. Russia is one of them. The government gets involved. So, no. I think that we will be just fine,” Sonnen explained.
The exact role Chael Sonnen will play at the wrestling event has yet to be revealed, but the trip adds another intriguing chapter to his lengthy and sometimes complicated relationship with Russian combat sports.
Russia has established itself as an undeniable powerhouse in modern mixed martial arts, producing an almost limitless supply of elite talent. Legendary champions like Khabib Nurmagomedov, Islam Makhachev, and Khamzat Chimaev have consistently dominated the UFC rankings. Sonnen actually predicted this exact geographical takeover more than a decade ago.
“I remember warning the UFC, I remember it being in 2012 sitting with Kenny Florian doing UFC Tonight, warning the UFC of the Russian invasion,” Sonnen previously said. “I was warning them, it’s coming, the Russians are coming and you are our only line of defense. Quit signing these guys.
“Unless you want a whole bunch of guys coming in with beards and no mustaches taking all your belts away, the only way to stop them is don’t give them the opportunity.”
He recently labeled Sean Strickland the “last hope” before his successful title defense against Chimaev at UFC 328. This competitive hostility toward the region’s MMA fighters completely differs from his profound respect for their foundational grappling culture.
“Strickland is the last hope,” he told Ariel Helwani. “He is the last line of defense between the martial arts community and having to watch Chimaev for the next period of time.”
Despite his concerns about Russia’s invasion of MMA, it is worth noting that Chael Sonnen has not been hostile toward the country’s wrestling culture. In fact, years before he talked about Russian fighters taking over the UFC, ‘The American Gangster’ personally arranged for an American wrestler to travel to Russia for training.
Chael Sonnen once paid for an American wrestler to train in Russia
In 2009, Olympic freestyle wrestler Andy Hrovat was going through a difficult period in his career. After failing to make the U.S. World Team, Hrovat stated that he planned on spending a year in North Ossetia, Russia, immersing himself in the region’s famed wrestling system.
Chael Sonnen happened to watch an interview in which Hrovat discussed this idea. The two weren’t particularly close at the time. In fact, Andy Hrovat had only wrestled Sonnen once before, at University Nationals years before. But ‘The American Gangster,’ a huge wrestling fan, decided to help make the trip possible.
“He sent me three or four thousand dollars, and for me every thousand dollars was a month’s pay,” Hrovat said in an interview with Bloody Elbow. “Chael is a big wrestling fan.
“He said he saw an interview afterward where I said I wanted to go to Russia for a year and train, and he said he thought that was a really great idea and he wanted to help contribute, get me over there, and help me out along the way.”
But while Andy Hrovat did not make the 2012 Olympic team, his time in Russia provided him with a good grasp of the Ossetian approach to developing elite wrestlers. He subsequently became the head coach of the Cliff Keen Wrestling Club, one of America’s most prestigious regional training facilities, and later founded Ranger-47 Wrestling Club in Texas, where he still serves as head coach.
So, while Chael Sonnen’s next Russian escapade may appear odd given some of his comments, his connection to the country’s wrestling tradition actually dates back several years. This time, however, he will not be paying for the trip personally. As Sonnen put it, he’s being brought over by the Russian government.