Chael Sonnen Praises Fedor Emelianenko After Bellator 208 Loss

Chael Sonnen spoke with MMAjunkie following his loss to Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 208. Highlights are below:

On trying to get Emelianenko to wear himself out: “I thought there was opportunity there. I was covering up, and I thought he was slowing down. Whether that’s accurate, I thought he was slowing down a bit, and the referee warned me. He said, ‘If you don’t move, I’m going to stop this fight.’ I didn’t think he would because they were going 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. Explosive – I would call him explosive. With his punches, there wasn’t a ton of setups; they just came, and they came hard. And even on the ground, I had some good positions on him, and he would just explode. It wasn’t necessarily technique-based, but it was impressive. He’s an impressive athlete. I don’t think I’ve ever been ground-and-pounded like that.”

On which weight class he’d rather fight in: “If you ask me what weight class I’d rather be in, I think 205 is more appropriate. I think there could be some opportunity. I don’t feel it’s appropriate to make a callout tonight because it’s not my night, but I am ranked No. 1 at light heavyweight, and I did feel like I was going to see Bader in the finals of this tournament. But let’s see how it goes. I don’t think that would be appropriate for me to step in front of something tonight.”

On not retiring yet: “I have some other goals I would like to achieve. I really looked up to what Randy (Couture) was able to do to extend his career; I would like to extend mine. But it won’t be my choice. It was never my choice. Eventually coach Clayton (Hires) will come up and say, ‘We’re done.’ Then we’re done. But I must remind you I was just in the final four of a tournament with the baddest dudes in the world. It wasn’t like old Chael got cleaned up in a parking lot on a Saturday. We’re down to the final four in a weight class I’ve never been in.”