Chael Sonnen: ‘Tito Ortiz is the worst fighter I ever fought and that makes me the worst fighter’

Chael Sonnen is still uncomfortable about how his fight with Tito Ortiz went down.

Bellator 170 was all about the veterans. Former UFC fighters Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen headlined the event, in which many had criticized for being a “fix”.

Ortiz subsequently announced his retirement after his rear naked choke submission win, which a good handful argued to be a face crank. Sonnen, for his part, was overly dissatisfied with how the entire fight went down, that he saw how people perceived it to be fixed.

“Oh, Tito is terrible. Tito was absolutely terrible,” Sonnen said during Monday’s Edition of The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting). “I was in the fight with him and that fight ended and some people said it was a fixed fight, to use that term.”

“When you fight so poorly that some people can’t even imagine you fought that poorly that it has to be fixed, that’s not good. On some hands, it’s funny we can sit here and laugh about it. But that’s how bad it was.”

For Sonnen, getting beaten by a “terrible” Ortiz is something he criticizes himself for. He also seems to still have trouble getting by the manner of how the fight had ended.

“Tito sucks. I mean, Tito is so bad,” Sonnen said. “And when you lose to a guy, then you suck. That’s the way it works, man. I wouldn’t put that guy without putting myself down. Tito is the worst fighter I ever fought and that makes me the worst fighter. And I just didn’t know that about myself.”

“When we got into the back and he was still a jerk about it, that confused me. It’s like, Tito, you’re terrible. I’m the name that’s gonna move this company forward. You’ve gotta pass the torch.”

“I want to beat Tito that night, I don’t like Tito,” Sonnen continued. “I don’t want Tito to have a bad life. I don’t want him to go on with a bad neck. I just don’t.”

“You yelled ‘tap’ and I let go. I physically tapped and you didn’t let go. If that would have been my knee … or an arm or something, you really could have injured me.”

Sonnen will now be facing Wanderlei Silva in a long overdue fight as the headliners for Bellator’s New York card on June 24th at Madison Square Garden. It will be co-headlined by the rescheduled heavyweight match-up between Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione.

Chael Sonnen is still uncomfortable about how his fight with Tito Ortiz went down.

Bellator 170 was all about the veterans. Former UFC fighters Tito Ortiz and Chael Sonnen headlined the event, in which many had criticized for being a “fix”.

Ortiz subsequently announced his retirement after his rear naked choke submission win, which a good handful argued to be a face crank. Sonnen, for his part, was overly dissatisfied with how the entire fight went down, that he saw how people perceived it to be fixed.

“Oh, Tito is terrible. Tito was absolutely terrible,” Sonnen said during Monday’s Edition of The MMA Hour (via MMA Fighting). “I was in the fight with him and that fight ended and some people said it was a fixed fight, to use that term.”

“When you fight so poorly that some people can’t even imagine you fought that poorly that it has to be fixed, that’s not good. On some hands, it’s funny we can sit here and laugh about it. But that’s how bad it was.”

For Sonnen, getting beaten by a “terrible” Ortiz is something he criticizes himself for. He also seems to still have trouble getting by the manner of how the fight had ended.

“Tito sucks. I mean, Tito is so bad,” Sonnen said. “And when you lose to a guy, then you suck. That’s the way it works, man. I wouldn’t put that guy without putting myself down. Tito is the worst fighter I ever fought and that makes me the worst fighter. And I just didn’t know that about myself.”

“When we got into the back and he was still a jerk about it, that confused me. It’s like, Tito, you’re terrible. I’m the name that’s gonna move this company forward. You’ve gotta pass the torch.”

“I want to beat Tito that night, I don’t like Tito,” Sonnen continued. “I don’t want Tito to have a bad life. I don’t want him to go on with a bad neck. I just don’t.”

“You yelled ‘tap’ and I let go. I physically tapped and you didn’t let go. If that would have been my knee … or an arm or something, you really could have injured me.”

Sonnen will now be facing Wanderlei Silva in a long overdue fight as the headliners for Bellator’s New York card on June 24th at Madison Square Garden. It will be co-headlined by the rescheduled heavyweight match-up between Fedor Emelianenko and Matt Mitrione.