Bellator 192’s Chael Sonnen feels Douglas Lima is “the most slighted champion I’ve ever seen.”
Chael Sonnen, newly promoted to the main event of Bellator 192 when Viacom decided his bout against Rampage Jackson was higher profile than the card’s welterweight title fight, addressed the media Wednesday, with Cageside Press on the scene. Sonnen, unquestionably the smallest competitor in Bellator’s World Heavyweight Grand Prix, discussed among other topics welterweight champion Douglas Lima, and his thoughts on the tournament format.
On the latter, Sonnen said that “I hope they keep with it. A tournament’s just the most fair way to do things.”
“It takes the politics out. Which is tough, on the business side of things, you’ve to put on the big fights” he explained. “But I just think people understand tournaments. From the NFL to the Olympic games to the NCAA, brackets and tournaments are fair. It’s a fair architecture.”
That said, “fairness doesn’t have a lot to do with life in general, I’m not a big harper on fair, but it is, in this case it is.”
One thing Sonnen has excelled at in recent years has been putting over other fighters. He has no trouble shining the spotlight on some of Bellator’s younger stars, and in this case, Douglas Lima has been a fighter Sonnen has opted to highlight.
“I love it, I can’t wait” he said of the Lima vs. Rory MacDonald 170lb title fight. “Rory’s so good, but Douglas is a champion. He’s the most slighted champion I’ve ever seen. All the stuff Tyron Woodley says, really happens to Lima. It really does happen to Douglas, but he’s an nice guy and the only thing coming out of his mouth is a smile, never any curse words.”
“So because he’s such a gentleman, people overlook him” he summed up. “It happened to St. Pierre too, it’s just a reality of the sport.”
Still, Sonnen said, Saturday night offers Lima a chance to gain some new fans. “I think he could lose that fight and still show his skills and make people go ‘oh wow, I get it now, you’re really good.'”
And what of the infamous bet with Quinton Jackson, where Chael has a chance at $10,000 per takedown on ‘Rampage?’ Did they ever work out another side to the bet, where Jackson could collect something in return? “No, we never did. I don’t even know if you could call that a bet.”
“I didn’t take it too serious, but I’m told by his people that he means it. He’s a man of his word, and he’ll write the check” Sonnen added. Take it all with a grain of salt. Still, how many takedowns does the wrestler foresee securing on the knockout artist? “Three. One per round. I’m not positive I can get him down, but I promise you, if I do, he will not get up.”
