A Brief History of MMA Fighters on Reality TV

Since the Nevada Athletic Commission suspended Chael Sonnen from competing in MMA for two years following a failed drug test, "The American Gangster" has done his best to keep busy and remain relevant in the fast-moving world of MMA.

Sonnen doesn't have long left to serve of that suspension, but he has indicated he won't be making a return to the Octagon once the ban has expired. In that time, he has since become a MMA analyst for ESPN and now hosts his own successful podcast which sees him retain his prominent voice within the sport.

Now, Sonnen will be appearing on this year's edition of Celebrity Apprentice on NBC—hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger in Donald Trump's absence as he attempts to insult as many people as possible during his ongoing bid to become the Republican presidential candidate.

Sonnen will be joining the likes of Laila Ali, Snooki, Boy George and Vince Neil to compete to win $250,000 for his favorite charity.

There have been plenty of TV appearances from MMA fighters over the years, ranging from run-of-the-mill chat show spots to Ronda Rousey's episode of Saturday Night Live last week. But, the most common TV format to feature MMA stars is reality TV. Tito Ortiz, Luke Rockhold and Tim Sylvia are among those to take the brave step into the murky world of reality TV—hell, even Frankie Edgar is friends with the Jersey Shore cast.

Here's a summary of how MMA fighters have fared when making their reality TV bow.

Celebrity Apprentice: Tito Ortiz

Tito Ortiz has also had the chance to try and win over Donald Trump in the seventh series of the show—a season which featured fellow fighter Lennox Lewis, Piers Morgan and some other people a Brit like me wouldn't really know anything about.

Sonnen would be wise to learn from Ortiz's shortcomings, with the "Huntington Beach Bad Boy" receiving his marching orders in episode nine—an episode which saw his first attempt at being a project manager.

Ortiz largely flew under the radar up until his final appearance on the show. But, his debut stint as project manager made for car crash television, fluffing his lines in an important presentation in a similar fashion to his attempt at being an in-ring interviewer at the Affliction shows.

Celebrity gossip magazine People was particularly scathing: "On Thursday's Celebrity Apprentice, Tito Ortiz showed that he may have taken one or two hard blows to the head in his UFC fighting career. While giving a presentation to executives from Dove and Redbook as his team's project manager, Ortiz stumbled through his speech, hardly making a clear point. The fractured grammatical twists gave the suits pause as they listened, their brows furrowed in confusion about Ortiz's words."

Ouch.

Blind Date: Tim Sylvia, Pete Spratt, Tiki Ghosn

Where do I start? Former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia, Josh Thomson, Pete Spratt and Tiki Ghosn all appeared on Blind Date in the mid '00s with mixed results.

Sylvia, fresh off his infamous loss against Frank Mir which saw his arm almost snapped in half, had a date with a girl more interested in alcohol than the former heavyweight champ of the world. Josh Thomson's date also went badly after he was accused of being too nice for essentially being a gentleman and not trying his luck on the first "date".

A shout out goes Pete Spratt was the sole UFC fighter to have a successful date.

Millionaire Matchmaker: Luke Rockhold

In 2015, current UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold appeared on Millionaire Matchmaker—a show which tries to find love for young, rich and desirable men who remain single due to being enamored with their job to the detriment of their personal lives.

Since his appearance, Rockhold has claimed to be a victim of some unfavourable editing. Rockhold courted controversy for allegedly asking a date if she "spits or swallows", something he vehemently denies.

Tim Sylvia was happy with Rockhold's dating show bow, though, hoping it will deflect from his aforementioned appearance on Blind Date.

So there's plenty for Chael to mull over ahead of his Celebrity Apprentice appearance. Though, as one of MMA's most intelligent talkers out there, I can't see him being as bland as Tito Ortiz was or talking about fellatio with fellow contestants. Let's hope Sonnen can buck the trend of his colleagues in 2016.