On a recent edition of his “You’re Welcome” podcast, Chael Sonnen dropped a bombshell in a conversation with WWE writer John Piermani.
After talking about Brock Lesnar perhaps discussing a return to the UFC as a leverage technique to secure a better deal with WWE, Sonnen said that he was once offered a multi-million dollar deal to jump from UFC to WWE.
“Here’s the nuts and bolts of it: I was offered $5 million by [WWE promoter] Vince McMahon,” Sonnen said. “Now, I was still under contract with the UFC and I never took this to Dana. I handled it on my own. I told [WWE], ‘No’ and that was the end of that. I never told Dana White this story, but here’s why I didn’t tell him. I knew if I called Dana and said, ‘I’ve got a $5 million offer from Vince McMahon,’ Dana would have matched it.”
Sonnen’s tenure in the UFC ended in an unfavourable in June when he announced his retirement from MMA after testing positive for two banned substances, Anastrozole and Clomiphene.
The fighter continued.
Sonnen also said that there are times when Dana White bids against himself when working out a new deal.
“The UFC, on a regular basis, negotiates against themselves,” said Sonnen. “Dana White will sit down at the negotiating table and he’s negotiating against himself, against the old contract he’s already got with a guy. There’s no nobody else coming in and bidding on him and he’s still giving guys raises.”
