Chael Sonnen made his Bellator MMA debut at Bellator 170 and he was promptly submitted by Tito Ortiz in their main event fight.
Sonnen has since made the accusation that Ortiz verbally submitted in the fight, something that referee John McCarthy disagrees with.
Chael must have been listening to a different frequency then the rest of the world that night. Tito didn't say anything #AskBJM https://t.co/mlIf7nbOpO
— Big John McCarthy (@JohnMcCarthyMMA) February 24, 2017
The UFC veteran made an appearance on the Phonebooth Fighting podcast and he responded to the tweet by the veteran referee.
“One, I don’t know if he felt he needed to defend himself. And, two, if there’s a major fire burning for a rematch with me and Tito, why somebody who has nothing to do with the business would come in and put any kind of water on that, or who that is to help, is beyond me. We’ve seen some people that we really like in this industry that are no longer in this industry, from the great Burt Watson – and Stitch Duran is still in the business, but not in the same spot he was – up to the executive director in (Nevada) state, Keith Kizer. One thing that does happen with some gentlemen is that they want to be the star of the show, and that can get you in real trouble when you’re talking about (fights), because this is a television show as much as it is a sport. And when the executive producers are looking to push very specific people in their very expensive time slots and other guys are trying to come in and get any level of notoriety, it’s going to piss people off fast.”
Just in case there was any wonder about who won the fight, Sonnen wanted to ensure that things are clear.
“I laid an egg – Tito won,” he said.
Despite being winless in Bellator MMA, Sonnen is expected to compete against longtime rival Wanderlei Silva this Summer.
