'You're not a fighter': Chael Sonnen rips into Ronda Rousey for not standing up to adversity

Chael Sonnen believes former women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey does not fall under his definition of what being a fighter is.

The former UFC middleweight title contender is currently getting ready for his light heavyweight bout with Wanderlei Silva at Bellator 180 in Madison Square Garden, New York on 24 June.

With his longtime Brazilian rival failing to show up for two press conferences so far, Sonnen is not confident about Silva showing up on fight night.

"I'm not positive he is coming," Sonnen told FloCombat. "I will be there. I gave my word and will be there no matter what happens, but I don't know about him."

"In baseball you have the three strike rule, and he already has two strikes against him. We had a press conference and he skipped it. We did another press conference and he skipped that as well. The only thing left is the fight."

"The American Gangster" then compared Silva to Rousey, stating that the definition of what a fighter was changed compared to his time in the octagon.

"Somewhere along the line the word 'fighter' became corrupted in my lifetime," he added. "It used to be about who could get up and move forward when the chips were down. Who could get up and move forward when it was the toughest thing to do. That's what a fighter was, but now I have no idea what the kids of today would define a fighter as."

"I read some stuff that Ronda [Rousey] put out, and I'm a personal fan of hers, but I was stunned at some of the stuff I read. It had me sitting there saying, 'Ronda, you're not a fighter. You understand one thing and that's aggression. When someone is standing there who sucks, you understand how to attack that person. That is called aggression.'"

Sonnen seems to be referring to Rousey's aggressive nature only when she is superior to her opponents. However, when she suffered her first loss to Holly Holm, "Rowdy" was out of action for over a year, also revealing that she was suicidal as she barely appeared in front of the media.

The 30-year-old eventually returned to action in a losing effort to Amanda Nunes in a one-sided 48-second fight. With another media blackout, Rousey is unlikely to return to the octagon this time.

"Fighting is when it's hard," Sonnen explained. "Fighting is when that person is coming back at you with equal or greater resistance."

"That's what a fighter is, and when it doesn't go your way and you want to stay in bed in the morning, when that alarm goes off you get your ass up, put your boots on and you go face the world. That's what a fighter does."