10 Best Trash Talkers In UFC History
1. Chael Sonnen
There is only one person who could reach the lofty heights of Conor McGregor.
Chael Sonnen is the best trash talker in MMA history.
Just like Colby Covington, Sonnen was once considered a talented, but somewhat unremarkable fighter. Also like the new UFC champ, both men possess incredible wrestling pedigrees but their control-heavy style of fighting doesn't exactly sell tickets.
Realising this, Chael would lay the blueprint for those that would come after him by adopting the heel schtick that had existed for at least 60 years in pro-wrestling and adapting it to MMA.
Setting his sights on then-middleweight king Anderson Silva, Sonnen completely dismantled 'The Spider' with a plethora of ruthless insults and provocations. Referring to Silva, Sonnen said:
He's a good durable fighter. He's the champion, but I am the best, and there can be only one, and I'm not going to make any apologies for that. He's done a good, solid job. He's a durable guy. I'm a world-class athlete. He's a martial artist [and] I'm a cage fighter and there's a tremendous difference. And on Saturday night, there's going to be one more in the win column, one more for the highlight reel and one more for the bad guy.
Despite losing both of his fights with Silva, Sonnen maintained his streak of incredible trash talking, even managing to earn a title fight with Jon Jones despite not having a win at light-heavyweight at the time.
Now with Bellator, and while past his athletic prime, Sonnen shows no signs of slowing down as a talker, briefly serving as a commentator in the ill-fated Global Force Wrestling promotion.