Chael Sonnen Not Cornering Yushin Okami For UFC 134 In Brazil

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MMA Junkie is reporting that Chael Sonnen won’t be quite attending the Lynch Mob Party being organized in his honor. The convicted felon and Middleweight contender will be staying home to watch the event instead of going to Brazil to corner his friend and training partner, Yushin Okami, who is challenging Middleweight title holder Anderson Silva this weekend.

A source with knowledge of the situation told MMAjunkie.com that Praetorian, a Brazil-based MMA brand, threatened to pull [Okami]‘s sponsorship if Sonnen attended.

“There’s a line of people that want to kick his ass,” the source said.

And that could be the least of problems for the expert trash-talker. Sonnen said friends in the country forwarded him a local-media report in which a police chief threatened to arrest him on sight if he showed. The official cited a law that makes disparaging the national identity a crime.

“You don’t have freedom of speech in Brazil; put it like that,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie.com after a workout at Team Quest Tualatin…

Brazil-based MMA manager Alex Davis said Sonnen’s words have united Brazil’s MMA community.

“Brazilians don’t get together on other things, but they’ve gotten together on this,” he said. “Brazilian authorities would not arrest Sonnen for anything he said. They would defend him. But he is talking about people that a whole generation of fighters worship.”

“I only want to be there to help him,” Sonnen said. “I don’t need to see the show. I can watch the show on TV. I was going exclusively in support of Yushin, and frankly, it’s been headed this way for a long time. It’s been headed the direction of, ‘Hey, this is becoming a distraction.’

“This fight isn’t about me. I’m not involved. I’m here to lend you support. But I don’t want things thrown at what will unintentionally be him while he’s in the ring or we’re going to the ring.

“This is serious business. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and it’s not my place to disturb it or shift any type of attention to me. This is his moment, his night, his time to be the world champ.”