Back in 2015, former UFC fighter Chael Sonnen gave his views on why WWE Hall of Fame Class of 2018 inductee Bill Goldberg was blackballed from MMA. Below is what Chael said on his podcast:
“Over time he started to mark out for his own gimmick, it appeared. He got into MMA and he got in as an announcer and he was pretty legitimate. And what I mean by that is he was actually going to the gym, he was doing the workouts. So he knew the moves, he understood some of the positions, he understood some of the rigorous training, he was able to identify.
But what he didn’t understand is that he’s a monster. He is such a big and imposing guy. When you are a big scary guy with a bald head and a goatee, that was 300 or whatever you made him at one point or whatever it was, he almost needed to dumb it down in real life because people are gonna be intimidated by you. He got into MMA, and they gave him an assignment which was to go in the ring and interview fighters after their fight.
This guy would go in there, and he didn’t understand that he was 300 plus pounds. He would get in the ring, he would talk the part, but he would also talk scary in terms of just looking scary. Then he would do a physical mannerism, and I don’t know if he knows it to this day, but he did a physical mannerism that ran him right out of the business.
He’s in the ring with the fighters, Jake Shields stands out. Jake Shields had just defended a World Championship, he’s got the belt, he’s the baddest dude in the world. He’s also half the size of Bill Goldberg. So Goldberg gets in the ring. For reasons unknown to me, he puts on a great, big, huge jacket. A guy that’s that big, you don’t need to make him look bigger.
The mannerism I’m talking about is – So now the fighter who is legitimately straight-up baddest dude in the world, Jake Shields, World Champion, Bill Goldberg puts his arms around him, makes him look small and then proceeds to shake him, and the true World Champion Jake Shield is just moving around like a leaf in the wind. It made him look so small in comparison to Goldberg.
I’m thinking: ‘Is nobody in your earpiece telling you that don’t touch the fighter, you’re overbearing this scene, you look like an oak tree? And I don’t know if to this day (he knows or not). He may have just learned right now when I just said that why he’s out of the business.”
A guy asked Goldberg on Twitter what he thinks about Chael saying all of this about him. Instead of Goldberg, Chael ended up answering and below is what he tweeted:
Your first mistake was asking Goldberg to think. If I wanted his response, I’d have beaten it out of him.
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) March 26, 2018
This led to Goldberg replying the following to Chael:
Good luck with that punk https://t.co/sWG4qa1U9a
— Bill Goldberg (@Goldberg) March 26, 2018
