Chael Sonnen News

Tom Taylor - November 19, 2018

The mysterious RIZIN 14 showdown between undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather and 20-year-old kickboxing sensation Tenshin Nasukawa is apparently back on. According to Mayweather, however, it will merely be a boxing exhibition… just three, three-minute rounds of “moving around” for yet another mammoth payday.  While Floyd Mayweather seems to think this fight with Tenshin Nasukawa will be little more than a light sparring session, Bellator star and MMA analyst Chael Sonnen is imploring the pugilist to be a little more discerning.

Drake Riggs - November 13, 2018

Fedor was the strongest, Jon Jones was the most dynamic, and Anderson Silva was the… pic.twitter.com/CpDcVVI2NG — Chael Sonnen (@ChaelSonnen) November 13, 2018

Tom Taylor - October 21, 2018

Last weekend, in the main event of Bellator 208, former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen was stopped in the first round by heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. Post-fight Sonnen was quick to offer praise to Emelianenko. In fact, Sonnen says he considers Fedor Emelianenko the best heavyweight in MMA history, while he also considers Fabricio Werdum and Josh Barnett frontrunners in that debate.

Tom Taylor - October 16, 2018

Last Saturday night, in the main event of Bellator 208, former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen stepped into the cage with heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. Although Sonnen had some success with his wrestling in this fight, he was ultimately stopped in the waning moments of the first round, as Emelianenko unleashed a veritable meteor shower of ground-and-pound upon his head. Speaking on The MMA Hour on Monday, Chael Sonnen opened up on this loss. He says that, after being dropped early and pounded out on the mat, he’s in significant physical pain. No surprise there.

Cole Shelton - October 14, 2018

At Bellator 208, Chael Sonnen was taking on arguably the best heavyweight in MMA history, Fedor Emelianenko. Ultimately, Emelianenko’s power proved to be too much for the former middleweight and natural light heavyweight. Emelianenko dropped Sonnen multiple times during the fight and got the TKO win in the first round. However, even with this loss to Emelianenko, Sonnen can take pride in having fought the best of the best throughout his career. He competed in title fights against the arguable middleweight GOAT in Anderson Silva, and the consensus light heavyweight GOAT in Jon Jones.

Tom Taylor - October 14, 2018

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Tom Taylor - October 14, 2018

On Saturday night, in the main event of Bellator 208, former UFC light heavyweight and middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen came up short to heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. Although Sonnen had some success in this short but thrilling fight, landing a handful of takedowns, he had no answer for Emelianenko’s legendary power and ground and pound. “I would call him explosive,” Sonnen told the media of Emelianenko’s skill (via MMA Fighting). “With his punches, there wasn’t a ton of set-ups, they just came and they came hard. Even on the ground, I had some good positions on him and he would just explode. It weren’t exactly technique-based. It was impressive. He’s an impressive athlete.”

Chris Taylor - October 13, 2018

The second semi-final of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix took place tonight at as former PRIDE champion Fedor Emelianenko squared off with former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen. Chael Sonnen entered tonight’s Bellator 208 event having won two fights in a row, his latest being a unanimous decision victory over Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at January’s Bellator 192 event.

Drake Riggs - October 12, 2018

https://twitter.com/MMAjunkie/status/1050603228079915008?s=19 “I think it discredits all the heavyweights completely [if Ryan Bader and I make it to the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix]. The best thing to do with heavyweights is to keep them the hell [away] from any other weight class. They’re the worst athletes in the room, they’re the slowest guys in the room. They’re the laziest guys in the room – which is why they weigh so goddamn much.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2018

The MMA career of Chael Sonnen is one for the history books. He’s bested opponents like Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Michael Bisping, Brian Stann, Nate Marquardt, Yushin Okami and Alexey Oleynik. He’s battled legends like Anderson Silva, Jon Jones, Tito Ortiz and Rashad Evans. He helped revolutionize the way fighters promote themselves, ushering in an era of trash talk and showmanship that, though long present in boxing and pro wrestling, had not yet taken hold in MMA. If there’s one thing that has eluded Chael Sonnen over the course of his legendary MMA career, however, it’s a major world title. Though he has fought for titles in WEC and the UFC, he’s never managed to wrap a gold belt around his waist in a major promotion.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2018

On Saturday night, after tonight’s Bellator 207 card, Bellator MMA will touch down in Uniondale, New York with Bellator 208. This second card of the weekend will be headlined by a  Heavyweight Grand Prix semifinal showdown between former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen and heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. On Friday morning, the many talented fighters competing on the Bellator 208 bill took to the scales to weigh in for their imminent battles.

Tom Taylor - October 12, 2018

Last weekend, shortly after Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in the UFC 229 main event, a massive brawl broke out between the two fighters’ teams. Nurmagomedov leapt over the side of the Octagon and attacked McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis, while McGregor got into it with several of Nurmagomedov’s teammates inside the cage. It was a scene of pure, unbridled chaos that took several minutes to quell. Ever since this incident, the MMA community has been struggling to assign blame. There are some fans that believe that Khabib Nurmagomedov started it all by jumping over the cage and attacking Dillon Danis. There are others, meanwhile, that feel that Conor McGregor deserves the blame because he threw the first clearly visible punch of the skirmish.

Tom Taylor - August 23, 2018

One of the biggest fights on Bellator MMA’s calendar is the Bellator 208 main event, which will see heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko meet three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen in the semifinal round of the promotion’s exciting Heavyweight Grand Prix. This week, the promotion released a promotional poster for this Bellator 208 card, and it’s really something.

Tom Taylor - August 19, 2018

Chael Sonnen thinks that former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones knows something we don’t. More specifically, Sonnen believes that Jones knows that his current situation with USADA will soon be in the rear-view, and that he’ll be eligible to fight again very soon. Sonnen even speculates that Jones might already knows the setting of his next fight: November 3 at UFC 230 in New York City. The evidence, Sonnen says, is in Jones’ social media activity.

Tom Taylor - July 19, 2018

Earlier this month, we learned that the first semifinal bout of Bellator’s action-packed Heavyweight Grand Prix will go down on October 12, when reigning light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader battles Matt Mitrione at Bellator 205 in Uncasville, Conn. As it turns out, the second semifinal bout will occur the very next night, as Fedor Emelianenko and Chael Sonnen are set to battle on October 13 inside Long Island’s Nassau Coliseum. This news was first reported by Newsday.

Tom Taylor - July 17, 2018

UFC interim welterweight champion Colby Covington is as polarizing as UFC fighters get. Whether you love him or hate him, however, you’re likely to tune into his fights, which means his schtick is working. In the eyes of current Bellator star Chael Sonnen, one of MMA’s most legendary heels, we’re likely to see many fighters attempt to follow in Covington’s footsteps going forward — not just in terms of Covington’s bad guy gimmick, but in terms of his ceaseless self promotion.

Tom Taylor - June 20, 2018

Chael Sonnen has a piece of advice for Henry Cejudo, who rematches dominating flyweight champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at UFC 227 on August 4. Sonnen feels that, if Cejudo hopes to build interest in this flyweight title rematch, he needs to cast himself as the villain in the story. “He just wouldn’t come out of his shell,” Sonnen said of Cejudo’s typical attitude. “He just simply wouldn’t do it. He just wanted to be the good and likeable guy, no matter how many times we try to grab him by the collar and say ‘Henry, that spot’s taken — the good guy is taken by Demetrious — but there’s another seat in the car.'”

Tom Taylor - June 15, 2018

Bellator star Chael Sonnen watched Mike Jackson and CM Punk’s fight at UFC 225, and where many onlookers saw a clumsy tilt between two unskilled hopefuls, he claims to have seen something different. He gave his take on the fight on a recent episode of his Beyond The Fight podcast.