Colby Covington made more headlines in the MMA world by getting banned from Miesha Tate’s radio show this week. Chael Sonnen has his own unique perspective on the situation.
Covington was invited to join former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Tate and her co-host Ryan McKinnell on her “MMA Tonight” show on SiriusXM. As things tend to do when ‘Chaos’ is involved, the conversation soon devolved into insults.
Covington eventually got personal with Tate and brought up nude photos of her that surfaced online. That led to McKinnell sticking up for her and eventually banning Covington from the show.
Sonnen’s View On Covington Ban
While many chalked it up to yet another grotesque, over-the-top scene created by Covington, Sonnen doesn’t necessarily agree. He opened up on the subject in a clip posted to his official YouTube page (via BJPENN.com), noting that what you see is what you get from Covington. In that sense, Tate and McKinnell should have known what they were getting into:
“What could’ve Colby done to get him banned from a show? I have to start with that and I will tell you guys this, and you know my relationship with Colby. It’s in full disclosure, however, if Colby is a turnoff for you guys or he is a turn-on for you guys.
“If he is a loose cannon and you don’t know what’s gonna happen and you hate him for it or you like him for it, either way. If this is the wrap on Colby, I would have to tell you when you invite him to the show, it is incumbent on you that you know what you’re getting into.”
No Right To Act Surprised
The former UFC middleweight title contender then delved deeper into his stance on the controversy. As he did so, it became more and more clear that he believes most of the blame should be placed on the show for lining Covington up to appear. They willingly did so, he argued. So once he said something unsavory, they were no longer allowed to act surprised:
“If Colby were to come on this show today and do or say something that was off-color or provocative or shocking, I don’t get to color myself ‘Mr. Surprised’ when it happens. I lined up the guest. I brought him on largely hoping that something like that would happen and that the show and the interaction that Colby and I have would be provocative, would be baffling, would perhaps be humorous. But it would be entertaining and interesting through and through.”
Mistake Made Many Times
Sonnen also clarified his stance that Tate herself wasn’t necessarily to be blamed. He effused respect for the women’s MMA star, in fact.
Perhaps it was someone else at the show who was to blame, he claimed. However, overall, it was a scene he’s witnessed too many times in the entertainment industry. In his eyes, too many have apparently invited controversial guests onto the air only to act shocked when they said something shocking:
“Now I am not looking to bury Miesha Tate. Miesha Tate is wonderful and there could’ve been maybe Miesha pulling the strings. It could’ve been a producer. It could’ve been somebody over at Sirius that owns the show. Might not have even been Miesha’s call.
“I don’t know what happened there, but I will share with you that in the world of entertainment I have seen this mistake made many times.”
Is Miesha Tate’s show truly to blame for not expecting harsh words from Colby Covington?
