Chael Sonnen and Fedor Emelianenko will clash later this year in the semi-finals of th Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix.
Emelianenko has earned a good portion of his professional MMA wins in Japan competing for PRIDE and other organizations, but those are victories that Sonnen isn’t willing to accept.
“You won’t say anything about me, but I will say something about you — I don’t accept your wins in Japan. The referee was wearing an earpiece, you never had a weigh-in, you never had a commission. Anyone that came over from Japan to America has a losing record. Why? I’ll tell you because the fights over here are real and they are fixed in Japan,” Sonnen said on You’re Welcome.
The legendary Russian fighter has earned a total of 37 wins as a pro, with around half of those wins happening in the country of Japan.
Sonnen even takes things a step further by insinuating that some of Emelianenko’s fights were treated more like pro wrestling bouts that actual MMA contests.
“The guy that is going to go over in professional wrestling will sit down in the same room as the guy that’s going to put him over and then work out the match. What they did in Japan was they only told one guy. So the guys that were going to win, your Cro Cop’s, your Wanderlei’s, your Fedor’s, they were never in the room when the guy that was your promoter, also known as the Yakuza, also known as the Japanese mafia, walks in the room and tells the opponent when to go down,” says Sonnen.
There is no word at this time when Sonnen and Emelianenko will collide, but the winner of the grand prix will become the new Bellator Heavyweight Champion.
