Chael Sonnen recently played an important role in setting up a highly anticipated match.
This match, which was to feature grappling icons Gordon Ryan and Mason Fowler, was scheduled for the UFC Fight Pass Invitational 5.
In an interview with MMAMania, Sonnen shared the emotional backstory behind his efforts to arrange the Ryan vs Fowler match:
The driving force of that was a wonderful young lady named Heather Standing.
Heather passed away. Heather had a dream, and her biggest dream was she wanted to get Gordon Ryan and Mason Fowler together.
So, we had to call Dana White, say: “Hey, we have to get this done.”We were about to do it, we gotta get it done.
However, the match faced a setback as Ryan suffered an injury and was replaced by Haisam Rida.
Fowler emerged victorious over Rida, but the anticipated clash with Ryan remains unresolved:
Dana actually booked the match out of respect to Heather, and then Gordon ended up getting (injured) and that match didn’t happen.
That was supposed to be last weekend. A very big deal, a bit of an open wound.
Watch the full interview with Chael Sonnen, where he details his involvement in the Ryan vs Fowler match, on the video below:
