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Chael Sonnen is not a fan of how Devin Haney has conducted himself after his humiliating loss to Ryan Garcia last month. ‘King Ryan’ gave a breakout performance after one of the most entertaining build-ups to a fight in recent times. He wiped the floor with Haney en route to a clear unanimous decision victory in their much-awaited bout.

And before the applause from the fans could even die down properly, it was revealed that Garcia had tested positive for a banned substance in drug tests done right before and after the fight. And Haney has been calling out Garcia stating he didn’t lose to the 25-year-old fair and square because of the alleged steroid use. But, former UFC legend and analyst Chael Sonnen thinks this has backfired spectacularly on Haney.

Chael Sonnen thinks Haney only ‘advertising’ his loss by going after Garcia

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Chael Sonnen feels that despite Garcia missing weight and testing positive for the banned substances, there were no takers for Haney’s narrative that he had been cheated. The UFC analyst felt that because of how comprehensively Garcia beat Haney, all of Haney’s indignant protestations about the weight and the drug tests come off as mere excuses. Excuses are universally disapproved of and considered dishonorable in the combat sports world.

“Why do you advertise a loss? That’s just a strange thing to do, like when you lose, you take the sign out of your yard… I’m looking how Haney is playing it, [and] I’m not really getting it. I don’t know what his plan is here,” ‘Uncle Chael’ said in a video on his YouTube channel.

“Haney is telling anybody that will listen that he got beat up by Ryan Garcia, but Ryan Garcia missed weight by three pounds. I mean this was an actual thing and it gained him zero traction. Nobody thought it was an unfair advantage. In fact many people called Haney on it,” he added.

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Sonnen was of the opinion that ‘Dream’s constant stream of vitriol aimed at Garcia only served to remind everyone of his embarrassing loss. However, Haney may yet get to rewrite the narrative as he has been offered a rematch by Ryan Garcia.

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Ryan Garcia offers ‘Dream’ a rematch

Ryan Garcia had tested positive for the banned substances Ostarine and nandrolone in drug tests done before and after the Haney fight. In good news for the 25-year-old, a subsequent drug test has returned negative for the latter substance, but still tested positive for Ostarine, according to multiple reports.

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And seemingly tired of Haney running his mouth, Garcia, confident as ever, offered Haney a rematch. “Devin, f**k it let’s run it again. If you feel you were cheated, we can run it again. I’ll only eat oysters for the training camp, and I won’t sleep,” Garcia tweeted.

However, there has been conspicuous silence on Haney and his team’s part on the topic of a rematch with Garcia. Even amidst complaining about his opponent having cheated and the unfair grounds on which it took place, Haney has yet to call for a rematch. And this silence, in many people’s opinion, speaks for itself.

Written by

Kanishk Thakur

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Kanishk Thakur is a senior UFC writer at EssentiallySports. A seasoned writer with about 5 years of professional writing experience, he has expertly covered the heated rivalries in the fight game and delivered meticulous reports of ‘athlete payouts’ here at ES. Additionally, he also unravels stories that occur outside the cage, in fighters’ lives.
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Edited by

Deepali Verma