UFC Legend Hurls Searing Zinger At Ariel Helwani, Ruthless Rant On Du Plessis

This former UFC veteran takes aim at Helwani and Du Plessis.

One ex-UFC title challenger has taken issue with MMA journalist Ariel Helwani and UFC middleweight Dricus Du Plessis.

Recently, Chael Sonnen claimed that Du Plessis had "mystery injuries that he never disclosed," to avoid fighting Israel Adesanya at UFC 293. Du Plessis fired back at Sonnen during an appearance on "The MMA Hour" The top-ranked UFC contender told Helwani that the accusation was a "dumb thing to say," and he questioned what kind of man Sonnen is.

(Ed Mulholland/Stephen R. Sylvanie/USA TODAY Sports)

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Never one to hold his tongue, Chael Sonnen took to his YouTube channel to respond to Du Plessis. He even hurled a dig at his former co-worker, Helwani, as Sonnen felt the journalist was teaming with Du Plessis to insult him.

"Here's the part that he gets upset, 'I don't know what kind of man you are,'" Sonnen said. "Now, I don't know if he's talking about Ariel, who would barely qualify as a man, or if he was talking to me. That's the part I don't know about."

Sonnen went on to say that Du Plessis' words would easily start a fight on the streets. "The American Gangster" insists he's been more helpful to "DDP" than the top-ranked 185-pounder realizes.

"There's some things that are fighting words, and every man knows if you tell another man, 'I don't know what kind of man you are,' if you even bring the word 'man' into it, you're now in a fight," Sonnen said. "Every man knows that, but I don't know if he said it to me. I don't really wanna fight with Dricus. I don't think anybody's been more helpful to Dricus. I can guarantee you nobody's talking about Dricus today except for me. When I do talk about people, I do try to tell the story accurately, and Dricus is saying that he told the media that if he was medically fit to fight that he would, and I am telling you he did not. That did not happen, that's false."

Sonnen went on to bash Du Plessis for what he perceives to be a fake tough guy act.

"You're such a tough man that you're going to fake not limping, doesn't get you any credit after a fight," Sonnen said. "There's no bravado that is built into leaving the ring faking a limp. The macho guy that you're claiming to be hides the limp on his way to the fight, not on his way out of the fight."

The former UFC middleweight title challenger, who was almost victorious against a prime Anderson Silva, then shifted his focus back on Helwani.

"I don't have any kind of a problem with Dricus, I think my bigger problem is with Ariel," Sonnen said. "I don't like that Ariel said, 'Yeah, Chael says a lot of stupid things, including about me.' He said that, he brought himself into it. What stupid things do I say about Ariel? Every now and then I've teased Ariel for pretending that he watches soccer, he doesn't watch soccer. I've teased Ariel for pretending he watches darts, he doesn't watch darts. I've teased Ariel for pretending he's a basketball fan, nobody's a basketball fan. But I don't know what I said that was stupid."

In prior videos to the recent rant on Helwani and Du Plessis, Sonnen has said he doesn't think the South African fighter should be considered the number one contender. Instead, "The American Gangster" would like to see an immediate rematch between Sean Strickland, who filled in for Du Plessis at UFC 293 and won the middleweight title, and Israel Adesanya.

If you use any quotes from this article, please leave an H/T to MMAKnockout.com for the transcription.

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