Despite a pair of failed drug tests which produced suspensions, the second of which took two years from his career and sent him into retirement, Chael Sonnen continues to fight on with Bellator MMA as largely a fan favorite. 

Sonnen, 40, will headline Saturday's loaded Bellator 192 card from The Forum in Inglewood, California, in a first round matchup against fellow UFC legend Quinton "Rampage" Jackson in the Bellator World Grand Prix heavyweight tournament (9 p.m. ET, Paramount Network). 

While Sonnen, among the greatest trash talkers in combat sports history, has never been one who is unwilling to play the villain in order to help hype a fight, he hasn't seemed to have lost many fans as a result of his past transgressions. In fact, his 2016 signing with Bellator has been nothing but fruitful in terms of television ratings and the fact that Sonnen headlined the promotion's second-ever pay-per-view card last summer. 

The secret, Sonnen said during an appearance on this week's "In This Corner podcast," is transparency. Asked whether history will remember his former opponents, Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, any differently based upon their own multiple failed drug tests in recent years, Sonnen was unsure.

"Who knows, but time will tell. I believe the truth is your friend. I believe any time you are in a jam, it's best to come out as clean as you can, as quick as you can," Sonnen told CBS Sports. "Now, there are different [public relations] approaches and I think that's what you are asking. 

"[Silva and Jones] are clearly guilty and they are sitting there saying, 'No, we're not.' Now, they are guilty multiple times and they are saying, 'No, we're not.' They have been guilty on tests that they were passing and saying, 'No, we're not.' But there is a historical refuge with that, as well, where you can cling to that until you open your mouth and tell the truth. Now, they can pick their own path but once they get sworn in and are under oath, the gig is up. They are best to just sit there silent or let somebody else speak for them."

Silva has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing from his two failed tests, which occurred after his 2015 victory over Nate Diaz (later changed to a no contest) and before being pulled from his November bout against Kelvin Gastelum. 

Jones, meanwhile, who was pulled from the UFC 200 main event in 2016 against Daniel Cormier and suspended for one year for a failed drug test only to fail again after his victory over Cormier in July, has blamed his issues on "a damn sex pill" and tainted supplements. 

From Sonnen's perspective, he was surprised at how willing the MMA world was to forgive him simply for being honest. 

In 2010, Sonnen's hard-luck submission loss to Silva in the fifth round of their middleweight championship bout at UFC 117 was stained when he tested positive afterward for elevated testosterone levels. Four years later, he was pulled from a UFC 175 bout against Wanderlei Silva for failing multiple drug tests and was suspended for two years. 

"The fans haven't seemed to care a whole lot, which was a surprise to me," Sonnet said. "When I came clean on it, I did think it was game over and I'm just going to shuffle off into the corner and stare at the wall wearing a dunce cap but it just didn't happen that way. 

"And I don't know why, but it did surprise me and the same is true with most of the baseball players who came clean and track stars who came clean. There's something about that where there was some kind of admiration within the truth and it was a little above my pay grade to even psychologically tell you why it came as even a surprise to me. But that was the reality for me."