Sonnen: I am in so much pain
Chael Sonnen: “I am in pain. For 15 minutes, I don’t know if he ever touched my face. He touched my body non-stop.”
The first fight in the opening round of Bellator’s heavyweight Grand Prix to crown a new champion is over, with Chael Sonnen defeating Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson at Bellator 192 on Saturday.Although he weighed in at 222, Sonnen spent most of his career at middleweight. Sonnen appeared recently on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and discussed what it was like to fight a large heavyweight.
I am in so much pain, said Sonnen, as transcribed by Marc Raimondi for MMA Fighting. The soreness you feel after a fight or after a good battle, it’s the best feeling in the world. You might sit and complain about it, but you feel so accomplished. This is different, man. I am in pain. For 15 minutes, I don’t know if he ever touched my face. He touched my body non-stop. My chest hurts, my body hurts.”
I was kind of suffering through the press conference a little bit and just trying to get out of there. I was trying to maintain my composure when really I just wanted to lay down and go ‘AHHH!’ Scream out in some discomfort. That’s what that was.
I learned a lot of stuff in that fight as far as progressing through this tournament. Particularly, the division. The heavyweights. I’ve gotta change some stuff. I need different angles. I blasted him a couple times with like a double leg tackle and he just stood there. And I mean, nothing happened at all. And it was as hard as I could penetrate. But when I found some angles, I was able to get him down. It was just totally different.
It was unknown waters for me. I was just out there trying.
The second quarterfinal fight will be a Roy Nelson vs. Matt Mitrione rematch at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut, on February 16, 2018. The third opening-round fight will be the greatest heavyweight of all time Fedor Emelianenko vs. former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois on Saturday, April 28. The final opening-round fight will be Ryan Bader vs. Muhammed Lawal at an event to be named in May at SAP Center in San Jose, California.
Semifinals
Chael Sonnen
vs
Fedor Emelianenko vs. Frank Mir winner
Matt Mitrione vs. Roy Nelson winner
vs.
Ryan Bader vs. Muhammed Lawal
The tournament alternates will be Javy Ayala and Cheick Kongo.