James Ryan

Originally Posted by James Ryan

Hey guys,

Here's a cool video that I just stumbled across of Chael Sonnen training with Yushin Okami.

A few observations:

1. Sonnen appears to be considerably stronger than Okami. In my mind, this has raised a question about TRT. Due to Sonnen's "condition," I would think that it's safe to say that he is still taking his testosterone replacement therapy. One of the biggest criticisms of fighters taking TRT is that they are not being tested in between fights, and what fighters are apparently doing, is they are loading up on TRT and then coasting down until fight time. This enables the fighters to train longer, harder, faster, without the risk of testing for increased levels of testosterone come the actual day of the fight. In my opinion, this type of scenario should still be considered cheating, and it adds validity to the multiple reasons why TRT should not be permitted at all.

2. By training with Okami, is this Sonnen's attempt to get into Anderson Silva's head? Because if I were Silva, and I watched this video, I would tend to think that Okami is less of a risk than Sonnen is. If anything, I would think that this video would heighten Silva's confidence. But you be the judge.

3. It is completely possible that Sonnen genuinely believes that Okami will defeat Silva at UFC 134 next month. This would make Okami the new UFC Middleweight champion, and would no doubt set up a fight between Okami and Sonnen down the road. Since I can't see Sonnen or Okami claiming that they won't fight each other because they are "friends," do you see this as a strategy by Sonnen to secretly learn all about the man that he fully intends to fight in the near future?

4. Their coach does a great job.

Enjoy.
James


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCaAj...layer_embedded