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Most people would jump at the chance of corresponding with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, but UFC legend Chael Sonnen revealed that he received a direct message from the celebrity megastar via Instagram over 18 months ago and still hasn’t gotten around to replying to it.
Sonnen revealed the epic reason for the stunning move on the latest episode of ESPN’s “Ariel and The Bad Guy”.
You can watch that clip below, or you can read about it further down.
Hey, @ChaelSonnen… reply to @TheRock‘s DM already 😂
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Why The Rock Reached Out To Sonnen
First, Sonnen revealed why The Rock reached out to him in the first place.
“Okay, so I had my last fight with Lyoto Machida in like June of last year, and he sent it that night or the very next day,” Sonnen told co-host Ariel Helwani.
Sonnen lost that fight via second-round TKO to Machida at Bellator 222. It was his last bout as an MMA fighter.
“I retired that night,” Sonnen said.
So The Rock was sliding into Sonnen’s DMs because the UFC legend was calling it a career.
‘You Missed a Message From The Rock!’
But what did The Rock say in the message?
“It was very sweet, somewhat long [message],” Sonnen said. “It was a paragraph, and he paid me some very nice compliments and just said he enjoyed it, you know, and to enjoy the retirement.”
Sonnen admitted he was super happy to get such a stirring message from one of the most popular celebrities in the world, but that he amazingly didn’t see it until over a year and a half after it was sent to him.
In fact, the only reason he saw it in the first place was that someone else was showing it to him.
“I’m a fan, I’m a namedropper, so that was a big deal for me…Ariel, I didn’t know you could go in and check the DMs and all that stuff so when I figured that out on Sunday…Ryan Parsons had my phone and he went, ‘Chael! You missed a message from The Rock’!”
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What Sonnen Is ‘Embarrassed’ About
Sonnen said he was embarrassed about the incident, but not for any of the reasons most people would probably assume.
That’s right. Sonnen isn’t embarrassed about missing the message, not knowing how Instagram works or even for leaving The Rock hanging out to dry.
Instead, Sonnen said he’s embarrassed about talking about the whole thing publically.
“Anyway, I’m kind of embarrassed telling it because I’m so clearly name dropping right now, but look when somebody you think is cool knows who you are it’s fun,” Sonnen said.
Why The Rock Still Didn’t Get a Reply Back From Sonnen
Amazingly, though, even after discovering his long message from The Rock, Sonnen still didn’t reply back.
Sure, the UFC legend made a video about the whole incident and posted it on Instagram, but Sonnen is choosing to leave The Rock on “seen” status in his DMs folder on Instagram.
And why? Perhaps that’s the most legendary thing of all.
“I don’t know how to do them!” Sonnen said.
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