Chael Sonnen: Conor McGregor Is Falling For His Own Gimmick

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UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor has been in the headlines recently after his outburst at a Bellator MMA event in which he slapped a security official.

Former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen recently took to his podcast, You’re Welcome, to comment on “The Notorious One’s” latest actions. “The Bad Guy” claimed that the young Irishman is beginning to ‘mark out for his own gimmick’ (quotes via Bloody Elbow):

“He’s starting to mark out for his own gimmick,” Sonnen said. “As human beings, we are whoever we pretend to be. When you get these guys to adopt a character, over a small period of time, they become that person. We’ve seen this from the highest of levels.”

“This is a real thing,” Sonnen. “Actors do it all the time. The great actors become the characters they’re playing at that time, whether it’s a cowboy, it’s a bad guy — I’m watching Conor mark out for his own gimmick.”

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Per Haljestam for USA TODAY Sports

There are some that believe McGregor’s actions in Bellator may be a result of substance abuse. Sonnen points to McGregor’s wealth, fame, and youth as contributing factors to what went down in Ireland:

“Hey Conor, you’re not really a creep, you just play one on TV! You’re not really a guy who’s out of your mind and can’t really keep your cool. You just play one on TV, then you go back to your real life, Dee and your baby, you go back to your gym and your teammates. But he’s starting to mark out for his own gimmick.”

“People were coming out saying ‘oh he’s on coke, that’s the only reason he would act that way. He was drunk and was on coke.’ I don’t think that’s right — he probably was drunk, that part was probably true.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3r9V4bEuxQ&feature=youtu.be