Former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen believes that Mike Tyson faked having a full session in his viral training video.
Tyson, 57, is scheduled to fight 27-year-old Jake Paul at AT&T Stadium on July 20 in Netflix’s first boxing event. On Wednesday, the boxing legend posted a ten-second compilation of his first training session in which he says, ‘It’s day one. The fun has just begun.’
Sonnen, however, was skeptical of Tyson’s preparation as he took to X (formerly Twitter) to call bluff on the boxer.
‘In the future, if you’re ever going to spend five seconds hitting mitts, as a way of making the audience believe you’re doing a training session, make sure you splash water on your face and T-shirt first,’ Sonnen wrote.
Sonnen, who famously fought Anderson Silva twice in the UFC, is known in the MMA community for being outspoken. He is also often credited for opening the door for stars like Conor McGregor to engage in verbal warfare before fights.
Chael Sonnen called bluff on Mike Tyson’s training footage ahead of his fight with Jake Paul
Tyson is scheduled to fight the 27-year-old Paul at AT&T stadium in Arlington, Texas on July 20
Paul and Tyson’s blockbuster matchup will be the first boxing event to stream on Netflix
This, however, was not the first time Sonnen’s skepticism towards Tyson was on display.
On an episode of the PBD podcast, Sonnen reiterated the age difference between Paul and Tyson. He also referenced fellow MMA great Vitor Belfort’s boxing match against Tyson’s former foe Evander Holyfield in 2021.
‘Vitor Belfort, who has never boxed, put him away so fast. So, this [Holyfield] is an Olympic gold medalist you’re watching. Vitor, who has never done it [boxing], put him away so fast that it ended Vitor’s [boxing] career,’ he said.
‘They would not book him again. They labeled him like an elderly abuser. ‘How dare you? How could you do this?’ Vitor never got another fight… He [Paul] will get teased for taking this [Tyson] fight.’
During his professional career, Tyson held a 50-6 record with 44 knockouts before retiring in 2005. He returned to action in 2000 and fought Roy Jones Jr. in an exhibition.
On the other hand, Paul holds a 9-1 record with six finishes. The influencer-turned-boxer is coming off a first-round knockout over Ryan Bourland on March 2.