Chael Sonnen Discusses His TKO Loss To Fedor Emelianenko

Chael Sonnen discusses being stopped by Fedor Emelianenko.

Last night (Oct. 13), Sonnen and Emelianenko did battle to determine who would meet Ryan Bader in the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix. Early in the fight, Emelianenko dropped Sonnen thanks to his quick hands. The two engaged in some fun grappling exchanges, but Emelianenko’s ground-and-pound was too much for “The American Gangster.”

Sonnen spoke to reporters during the post-fight press conference. He said that “The Last Emperor’s” ground-and-pound was unique:

“I don’t think I’ve ever been ground-and-pounded like that. I thought there was opportunity there. I was covering up and I thought that he was slowing down. The referee warned me — he said, ‘If you don’t move I am going to stop this.’ But I didn’t think he would because they were gong into my hands. I thought I was blocking them. I thought I was having a rope-a-dope moment. I thought I was luring him in. That was a bad strategy it turns out. That was a bad plan.”

Sonnen now falls to 2-2 inside the Bellator cage. As for Emelianenko, he’s now won two in a row with both fights ending in the first round. “The Last Emperor” has gone 7-1 in his last eight outings.

During the presser, Sonnen noted that he’ll likely be fighting at light heavyweight again. He said he wouldn’t mind taking more heavyweight fights, but competing at 205 pounds is ideal.