Back in 2010, Sonnen had a fierce rivalry with the former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, which culminated in a highly anticipated bout at UFC 117 on August 7th of that year.
The match was the main event for the middleweight title, and Sonnen put up a valiant effort, dominating Silva throughout the fight and appearing to be on track for a decision victory. However, in the fifth and final round, Silva managed to submit Sonnen with a Triangle Armbar, successfully defending his title.
While speaking during an interview with Ariel Helwani, Sonnen revealed that the WWE approached him with a lucrative offer. If he were to defeat Anderson Silva in their fight, the WWE wanted him to appear on Monday Night Raw with the belt for a whopping $1 million, but there was one condition: he couldn’t tell Dana White. The stipulation was that the money was a jab at White, and the offer was essentially a way to stick it to him.
Sonnen stated that he would have taken the belt and made the appearance on Raw, but he didn’t know how to stick it to White. He didn’t understand why White would have any issue with it and remains confused about that aspect of the situation.
As of now, WWE has not responded to Sonnen’s claims, and it remains unclear what their motivations would have been for trying to offend UFC President Dana White in 2010.
Follow Corey at @CoreyBrennanBS on Twitter
If you enjoy Bodyslam’s content, you can help donate to the site here. You can also visit our PWTees store and buy Bodyslam official merchandise here.
You can listen to all of Bodyslam’s podcasts by following us on Spotify and subscribing to our YouTube Channel, or any of your favorite podcast platforms.ⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘⓘ
