Sponsor vetoes Chael Sonnen from UFC Rio

the american Chael Sonnen announced that he would come to Brazil to help prepare the Japanese Yushin Okami for UFC Rio, an event that takes place next Saturday, in the capital of Rio de Janeiro. But Sonnen's controversial statements, often harshly criticizing Brazil, made one of the show's sponsors ask for the fighter's veto. Pretorian Hard Sports, a national company that signed a sponsorship deal with Okami, threatened to terminate the contract if Chael came to the country.

“Everything was ready to close the contract when we found out that Sonnen would be Okami’s corner. We warned him that if he came, the contract would be over. He shouldn’t talk so much nonsense about Brazil,” said Alexandre Bucci, the company’s marketing manager, in an official statement.

In an interview with the North American website MMA Junkie, Sonnen confirmed that he would be in Okami's corner, but that he would not travel so as not to interfere with his preparation partner's sponsorship.

“You don’t have freedom of expression in Brazil, let’s put it that way”, he commented. “I wanted to be there to help him, but I could become one more distraction,” concluded Sonnen.