Fedor Showed Chael Sonnen That Respect is Mutual When He Gave The American Gangster His Sweaty Tracksuit After Knocking Him Out…
It turns out that Fedor Emelianenko and Chael Sonnen do respect each other. Sure Sonnen got absolutely obliterated yesterday evening in Uniondale, New York. It was such a train wreck that there were even cries of fight-fixing. In the words of Sonnen: Why would he let himself get hit that hard if he was fixing a fight? It’s a good point.
Sonnen had no answer for ‘The Last Emperor’s’ explosiveness and power. He was dropped after ten seconds, and would finally be finished towards the end of the first round when he was floored again, before Fedor ground-and-pounded him to earn the TKO.
Now footage has emerged of their post-fight interaction. Fedor gave Sonnen his own sweaty tracksuit as a souvenir from the fight. Sonnen genuinely seems to be delighted and honored by the gift. You have to love them both.
So Cool! After tonight’s main event, Fedor gave Chael his #TeamFedor track suit! #Bellator208 pic.twitter.com/fTOlHWTPTG
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 14, 2018
Respect
You have to love when two men have let it all go in the cage and then have nothing but respect when they come back out. Even though Emelianenko defeated Sonnen convincingly, he still gave his opponent a lot of time and the pair embraced at the end.
That’s the true spirit of martial arts right there, Ladies and Gentlemen.
🐐 #Bellator208 pic.twitter.com/zZ9pJcZhf8
— BellatorMMA (@BellatorMMA) October 14, 2018
Explosive
Sonnen insists that he’s never been hit as hard by anyone else he’s ever faced. Sonnen might never have won a title, but at 205 lbs – where he’s expected to drop back down to – he’s faced elite opposition. ‘The American Gangster explained just how good Fedor was, and how his own decision making cost him.
“I would call him explosive. 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.
“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 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.”
Real
As for the claims of fight-fixing, Bellator boss Scott Coker insists that is absolute nonsense. He explained to media that anyone who believes that is an idiot:
“Come on, that doesn’t even deserve a response to the people that are saying it. Listen, Chael got clipped. He told me, ‘Man, he hit me and he hit me really good,’ and he was done. So that’s it. With Chael, the thing with Tito, ‘oh, he let him go’ or something, come on, why would you do that? You’re a professional athlete and you’re a fighter. He wants to continue, he wants to go to the next round of the tournament. That’s just all rubbish.”
“To me, they see Chael, he’s got this character and I think they just feel like with Chael it’s just like this character, so maybe that’s what they’re thinking. But If you had Fedor punching you and kicking you and kneeing you like he was doing today — that was real, that was not fake.”
