The more people watch a fight, the more money the promotion makes therefore the fighters get paid better. In order to attract people to watch a fight, the fight itself has to be interesting. Many fighters choose to make the battle more entertaining before they step into the cage. They talk. They may say insolent comments about their opponents, they may express their respect. The desired outcome of these pre-fight debates is to make things more interesting. More spectators will be attracted if the fight is personal for the fighter.
There is no solid opinion on the pre-fight hype amongst the fans of MMA. Some people like it when the fighters start hyping the fight, while other fans believe it looks silly and makes MMA look like professional wrestling. When it comes to hyping a fight in the UFC, one name comes to mind faster than any other – Chael Sonnen. His banter before the title fight against Anderson Silva was funny, entertaining and most importantly it made the fight more interesting. ''I'm going to through him on his back and make a hole in his face. Anderson Silva has a black belt under the Nogueira brothers. I think it is like saying that I've got a free toy in my Happy Meal'' With all those bold comments have been made before the fight, everybody expected Chael Sonnen to be great against Silva. And he was.
However, Sonnen did not run his mouth like that through out his career. It started in UFC 104. He was to fight Japan's Yushin Okami. There wasn't a lot of hype for that fight, Yushin is known to be a man of few words, many fans were not looking forward to this fight. Sonnen was very disappointed when he found that the fight will be on the preliminary card and will not even be shown on the television. Sonnen realised that if his opponent does not try to sell the fight, Chael has to.
Chael Sonnen has his own view on hyping a fight. He believes that everything that is said before a fight, has to be true. Sonnen expressed his discontent with Josh Koscheck for his behaviour after the title fight with Georges St Pierre. Koscheck had started a campaign of taunts and sneers before the fight. However, after the fight, Koscheck admitted that all the bold statements were made to only hype and promote the fight. Chael Sonnen found it to be very dishonest and stated that he stands behind every thing he has said before a fight.
Having an interesting personality in MMA is very important. It is not an easy skill to master but being loud before a fight has saved and created careers in this sport.
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