Can you imagine Chael Sonnen feeling out of place? Whether he’s in the cage or on the mic, he forces his way into the conversation and takes the room over with undeniable charisma and quick wit. But for once, that wasn’t the case. This time, he was just a background character.
“Daniel, have you ever been in a situation where somebody comes up and asks the guy next to you for a photo, so, you know that they’re a fan, so, you just assume ‘they’re gonna want me too’ and you just jump in? Have you ever done that? Some people call it a photo bomb. I did one of those,” Sonnen told co-host Daniel Cormier on the ‘Good Guy/Bad Guy’ show.
The scene was set in 2018. Rap icon 50 Cent wanted a picture with Jon Jones. Not a group photo, not a casual hangout shot. Just Jones. Sonnen, standing nearby, was not part of the equation. But social dynamics are complicated. When someone is hovering too close to a picture in progress, there are only so many ways it can go. They can back away and pretend they were never there or they can stand their ground and hope for an invitation. Sonnen however would soon learn that sometimes, they can have the decision made for them.
Jon Jones, perhaps seeing the social awkwardness unfold in real time, took matters into his own hands. Sonnen said, “Jon included me, Jon recognized the social awkwardness of the situation. He’s like, ‘Chael, get over here.’” Now Sonnen had a choice. Declining would have made it even weirder. So he went with it. “So I jump in there. I know I don’t belong. 50 did not ask for my picture.” This was the first moment of realization. Sonnen wasn’t supposed to be there. But it was too late to back out. Sonnen had accepted his fate, but it only got worse from there.
Recounting the hilarious awkwardness that ensued on an episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast, Chael described the cringe-inducing situation he found himself in “I’m just hanging there and they’re kinda leaning their heads together and I’m out there and I’m trying to….” The image is brutal. Jones and 50 Cent, fully engaged in the photo, naturally positioned like two people who actually wanted to take a picture together. And then, a few inches off to the side, Sonnen – with a balled-up fist and a half-baked death stare.
The picture was taken, the awkwardness was over, and Sonnen could walk away knowing that, while uncomfortable, at least nobody would ever talk about it again. Except that’s not how things work when 50 Cent is involved.
The second wave of embarrassment Chael Sonnen never saw coming
Sonnen didn’t just get stuck in an unwanted picture. That picture was about to go viral. Not because of Jones. Not because of Sonnen. But because 50 Cent posted it with a caption that made the entire thing even worse. “50 puts it out on social media and says, ‘I was happy to meet Jones, and this other guy photobombed my picture.’”
Sonnen may have tamed the language a little bit, because what 50 Cent wrote on X(Twitter back then) was, “Look at this fool trying to be cool, I like Jon Bones Jones look at your punk a– trying to fit in. Get the f–k outta here. LOL.”
What’s interesting is that Sonnen is not the only UFC star 50 Cent has beefed with. After the first fight against Kamaru Usman, Colby Covington called out the rapper for a million-dollar charity boxing match. Why? Because the latter called out ‘Chaos’ for his racially charged comments against Usman before the fight. But that’s not all.
He even had Conor McGregor going after him on social media back in, you guessed it, 2018! The pair’s beef started around the Mayweather-McGregor mega fight because the rapper was close to Floyd Mayweather. ‘Fitty’ claimed he’d bet up McGregor and made a few social media posts targeting the Irishman, only to delete them later. To no one’s surprise, McGregor responded in kind and may have even gotten the better of the situation. But for Sonnen, that was it. That was the final punch.
Sonnen had already felt out of place in the moment itself. But now, thanks to social media, that awkwardness was immortalized and framed in the worst way possible. He tells ‘DC’ seven years later, “I was so embarrassed. Well, it’s the truth that hurts because that’s exactly what happened. I knew he didn’t ask me to be there.” It was one thing to feel unwanted in real-time. It was another to have it confirmed for the entire world. So when the incident happened, he had no choice but to clap back.
Sonnen’s response read, “Me and some tall dude trying to get Filthy Scent on the Cyclone roller-coaster & Coney Island… He was… TREMBLIN’… MMA?… BWAHAHAHAHA!!!!”
In the end, this wasn’t just an awkward interaction. It was a two-stage social disaster. First, Sonnen was placed in a picture where he knew he didn’t belong. Then, just as he thought the moment had passed, 50 Cent made sure it would live on forever. Even a trash-talking legend like Sonnen has to admit defeat sometimes. And when you’re getting roasted by 50 Cent, there’s really no way to win.
The post Jon Jones’ Role in Chael Sonnen’s Rare Awkward Moment with 50 Cent Revealed as UFC Legend Faces Embarrassment appeared first on EssentiallySports.
