• TUF 17

Sonnen: Jones should have run scared

ESPN staff
October 17, 2012
Chael Sonnen © Getty Images
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Chael Sonnen has warned Jon Jones he will live to regret the decision not to step up to heavyweight when he had the chance.

The pair have been confirmed as rival coaches for the 17th season of The Ultimate Fighter, before they step into the Octagon next year.

Jones came under fire for refusing to fight Sonnen at late notice during the summer, which led to the cancellation of UFC 151.

And Sonnen, who has made two failed attempts to dispossess Anderson Silva of his middleweight belt, believes Jones would have been best advised to swerve him for a second time.

"Here's the bottom line, he should not have been pressured into this," Sonnen told FUEL TV's UFC Tonight. "I did everything I could to warn this guy. I told him, 'Hey I'm coming to the division' and he should have packed up and left it.

"He talked about going to heavyweight and he should have done it because now he's waited too long and the man has arrived."

Sonnen, whose reputation for trash talk precedes him, branded the light-heavyweight champion a "selfish, entitled brat".

"[The Ultimate Fighter] has some tremendous young talent on it," Sonnen added. "I will be taking 50 per cent of that talent and teaching them how to fight.

"The other half is going to be taught how to be selfish, entitled brats like Jones. The good news is that when it is all over, I'm sure Coach Jones will throw a hell of an after-party."

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