Welcome to Fightful.com's new exclusive feature Wikipedia True Or False? In this feature, we'll ask some of your favorite wrestlers, fighters, boxers and personalities the stories behind their Wikipedia pages, and if some of the listings are in fact true or false. To be able to check out Fightful.com's Wikipedia True Or False? in the future, make sure to register with the us, absolutely free. Our third guest is MMA superstar Chael Sonnen!
WIKI: Chael Sonnen's birthplace was Milwaukie, Oregon, or West Linn, Oregon, United States (sources differ)
Sonnen: Confirmation “I was born in Milwaukie. I lived my entire life in West Linn, but the trick on that is where the actual hospital is located. There's no hospital in West Linn. Milwaukie's the next town over, so I was born in Milwaukie, but I lived in West Linn. I don't know how to edit and change those pages, but I think that one's close enough.”
WIKI: In 1996, Sonnen began training in boxing, with the hope of competing in the UFC upon graduating from high school.
Sonnen: “That is true. UFC was my big goal, my dad had an interest in the Olympic games. I was considering trying out for boxing in the 2000 Olympics, but I pursued wrestling instead.”
WIKI: Chael Sonnen is a catholic.
Sonnen: “Oh yeah, that's a fact!”
WIKI: Sonnen is 6'1”
Sonnen: False “I claim 6'1”, but I'm definitely closer to 6 feet.”
WIKI: After Filho lost, he announced he would ship Sonnen the championship belt.
Sonnen: “Yes. He gets credit for it, and I have the belt to this day, but it was his manager Ed Soares that took it from him, went to the post office, and said 'this is no longer yours.' I do still have the belt.
Fightful: Did Filho try to resist sending it?
Sonnen: “I don't know if he did or not. Paulo had gone through some problems. I have no personal problems with him and wish him a good life. He was even shot at a party a number of years ago. He came out okay, but he had some struggles. He was cut from the WEC that night, which that night rolled into the UFC. So he would have been in the UFC. He lost a lot of contracts and opportunities. It might have been the beginning of a spiral.
Fightful: There were talks of dream matches with UFC fighters for Filho before that.
Sonnen: “He was 16-0 and ranked number one, in front of me, Dan Henderson, Anderson Silva. He and Anderson were training partners, and Anderson said Paulo could beat him. It wasn't one of those nice things where you'd go ask Paulo and he'd say 'oh, no.' Paulo said 'yeah, I could beat him.' Everybody said Paulo was number one. Their manager Ed Soares said Paulo won those exchanges.”
WIKI: He took the Dan Miller fight on 22 days notice, and lost 36 pounds in order to compete.
Sonnen: (somewhat true) “The fight was in 22 days, which means weigh-ins were 21 days away. It was 36.2 pounds. That .2 matters. It was the worst experience of my existence on this planet, at least physically. I made weight and Dana White didn't say a word. He handed me something. I opened it up later, and it was a check for $10,000. He'd read somewhere about the weight cut. My purse was better than that, but not much better. It was like 'Dana, why didn't you tell me about this weeks ago?' It would have got me through some rough spots?
Fightful: Do you feel that weight cut in the cage?
Sonnen: “Well, I always got a bump from cutting weight. I always felt that it took all the thought off of the fight. The fight was on the back burner, because the fight's not going to happen if the weigh-in doesn't happen. So it takes priority. The suffering you go through of cannibalizing your body, I don't think there's a dietitian that would tell you it's possible. Also dehydrating it. When fight night came around, I felt like Superman. I loved fighting after cutting weight. I didn't love the cutting weight process, but I loved fighting after cutting weight.”
WIKI: He graduated from the University of Oregon with a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology
Sonnen: “That is true, and a minor in business.”
Wikipedia barely broke even, as the page admittedly didn't know where Sonnen was born. Outside of a slight correction on Sonnen's height and the amount of weight he cut to fight Dan Miller, Wikipedia didn't fair so poorly. Unfortunately, details are key, dammit! We're still in search of our first ever perfect Wikipedia page. You can check out our full, exclusive interview with Sonnen at this link.
