Chael Sonnen: Rips Lyoto Machida on Twitter Again; Calls Karate Gi a Bathrobe

Fight fans have shown mixed feelings about the potential bout between Chael Sonnen and Lyoto Machida at UFC 136.

Some are excited about the prospect of a bigger, better-rounded fighter shutting Sonnen’s mouth.

Others feel that the fight is a waste of time regardless who walks away with the “W,” since Machida and Sonnen are standouts in two different weight classes.

Regardless what your opinion is on this potential main-card battle, Chael Sonnen is now going for the jugular on “The Dragon” via his Twitter account.

According to a report from ESPN, Sonnen took his mockery of Machida’s karate background (Machida is a third degree Shotokan black belt) to another level:

"Of course your sport should be taken seriously. Everybody would like to be able to work out in their bathrobe."

A look at Sonnen’s Twitter page indicates that tweet has since been deleted as it is nowhere to seen, but as usual, Sonnen was nowhere close to finished yet.

The American wrestling-based fighter again indicated his disdain for karate when he tweeted:

“Lyoto, don't feel bad that you don't have the belt. You still have that little cotton one my nephew has.”

Machida is of course a former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, which Sonnen is referencing in the first part of his tweet.

Sonnen also took a more general stab at Machida on the fourth of July, mocking Machida’s homeland of Brazil:

“Happy 4th of July, where we celebrate our domination over Brazil...Wait, that's every day. See what I did there? EAGLE STATUS, turkeys!!”

Interestingly, another Brazilian fighter, Demian Maia, had something to say about this tweet.

Also via Twitter, Maia responded:

“I m receiving tons of tweets...the brazilians really love Chael.. LOL...he should come to Brasil, I think people will welcome him...lol”

Despite the fact that Maia submitted Sonnen during their February 2009 fight, both men have shown a mutual respect for one another since then.

Maia also added: "@lyotomachidafw vs @sonnench It will be a great fight @ufc !"

Even Steven Seagal wasn't safe from Sonnen's insults this time around, as Sonnen called out the former action film star for allegedly training with Black House recently:

"I don't seek training advice from actors for the same reason I don't seek health advice from strippers."

Up to this point, Machida has taken the high road with Sonnen and chosen not to respond to any of his trash talk.

Machida’s Black House teammate, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva, took the same approach with Sonnen in the past year, though Silva finally lost his cool in regards to Sonnen a little over a month ago.

For now, Machida has had little to say about the situation except that he has “no problem at all” fighting Chael Sonnen.

Update

Both MMAJunkie and Bloody Elbow are reporting that the UFC has opted to scrap the recently proposed Sonnen vs. Machida fight.

Rumored opponents for Sonnen include Chris Leben, Jorge Santiago, Mark Munoz, and Brian Stann.

Machida's situation is a bit more complicated, being that just about every relevant light heavyweight fighter has fought or is scheduled to fight this summer.