Chael Sonnen stands in the Octagon during his UFC 117 fight with Anderson Silva, inset throwback banner. Credit: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Chael Sonnen was moments away from becoming a UFC champion on two separate occasions when facing two GOATs

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Kyle Dimond | Last updated Sep 1, 2025 1:50 PM ET

For everything that he accomplished in his career, Chael Sonnen never held UFC gold.

The MMA legend called time on his career in 2019 after being beaten by Lyoto Machida at Bellator 222.

Sonnen recently returned to competition in a short-notice grappling match against jiu-jitsu star Craig Jones at CJI 2, which didn’t go his way.

‘The Bad Guy’ might be best known for being one of the best trash talkers to have ever picked up a microphone in combat sports but he was also an elite fighter.

Sonnen faced some of MMA’s all-time greats during his run in the UFC, where on two occasions, he nearly reached the pinnacle.

Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Chael Sonnen came close to dethroning both Jon Jones and Anderson Silva

While he has suffered defeats on 17 occasions in his MMA career, there is one loss in particular that sticks out on Chael Sonnen’s record.

The trash talking American proved to be the perfect rival for the UFC’s dominant middleweight champion, Anderson Silva, who was his complete opposite in several ways.

Their first encounter at UFC 117 in 2010 showed that Sonnen’s wrestling was one of the biggest challenges that ‘The Spider’ ever faced.

After dominating the fight with nearly 20 minutes of control time, Silva produced one of the greatest comebacks of all time by submitting his challenger with a triangle armbar with only two minutes left on the clock.

Sonnen was beaten by Silva for a second time in their UFC 148 rematch before he made the decision to move up a weight class, where another title shot awaited him.

‘The Bad Guy’ faced off with light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in the main event of UFC 159 where he was convincingly beaten by ‘Bones’.

Jones got the stoppage at 4:33 of the opening round but in the immediate aftermath of the fight, a shocking detail emerged.

The champion had suffered a gruesome toe injury during the fight which he hadn’t noticed until his post-fight interview.

Had the fight continued for another 27 seconds, Sonnen would’ve seemingly won the title before the start of the second round due to a doctor stoppage TKO.

Chael Sonnen reacted to his recent CJI 2 loss in the same way as some of his UFC defeats

While Chael Sonnen suffered some big setbacks in his career, the former UFC star was always able to rebound from his losses.

The fan favorite heel persona that he adopted meant that he was always able to play down the significance of any defeats that he suffered.

Fans got another taste of ‘The Bad Guy’ committing to the bit following his loss to Craig Jones at CJI 2 this past weekend.

The first thing you do in a position like that is relax. That’s all that was. I don’t blame anybody and I’m not upset. Misinterpretations happen.

I forgive you. https://t.co/IsnHPlxMfJ
— Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) September 1, 2025