Sonnen applauds Trump campaign: 'He has courage'

Chael Sonnen knows all about victory in defeat and he feels Donald Trump will soon share the experience.

The retired fighter turned analyst experienced the greatest success of his career after losing to Anderson Silva, talking his way into rematch with Silva and lucrative fights with Jon Jones, Rashad Evans, Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. Sonnen remained a marquee name even though he lost as much as he won.

On Wednesday, Sonnen expressed his support for Republican candidate Donald Trump regardless of whether or not Trump's presidential aspirations ever materialize.

"If Donald Trump's campaign falls off the cliff tomorrow - and history says that it does. The frontrunner never maintains his lead," Sonnen told Damon Martin of FOXSports.com. "History says it falls off the cliff tomorrow and if it does, every pundit out there still loses. Because not one of them predicted he was going to run or that he was going to lead in the polls, or that he could maintain a lead with the smallest fundraising and not accepting money from political action committees.

"They all lose and he wins."

Trump has made headlines every week with his brash statements, particularly in regards to immigration, the environment, and employee wages. This has led to criticism for the business mogul-turned politician, but Sonnen thinks the reaction is a sign Trump is doing something right.

"Whether you agree with him or you don't, it's absolutely secondary to the fact that he has courage," Sonnen said. "I listen to these pundits all the time breaking down Trump - 'He's brash and he's bold and he's successful' and none of those are what it is. There's one word to sum it up and it's 'courage.' He has courage. There's a courage in running for president, there's also a huge ego involved, there's a few things that you need to be a political candidate.

"In his case, it's one word and it's 'courage.' I find it compelling and go Trump."