“I think it discredits all the heavyweights completely [if Ryan Bader and I make it to the finals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix]. The best thing to do with heavyweights is to keep them the hell [away] from any other weight class. They’re the worst athletes in the room, they’re the slowest guys in the room. They’re the laziest guys in the room – which is why they weigh so goddamn much.
If you want to keep the mystique going on to the public that size matters and that the big guys are better, just because they’re bigger…if you want to keep that false narrative out there, keep us, real athletes, away from the heavyweights. I think it was a risky move. They tried it on the other side of the tracks, and a light heavyweight now has that strap, too. Yeah, heavyweights suck, [Matt] Mitrione is right.”
The Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix will be deciding its finalists tonight at Bellator 207 and tomorrow night at Bellator 208.
The remaining participants and their matchups are as follows: Tonight Matt Mitrione will be taking on the current Bellator light heavyweight champion Ryan Bader to see who faces off for the vacant heavyweight crown against tomorrow night’s headliner featuring the legendary Fedor Emelianenko and three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen.
Never being one to keep quiet and not voice his opinion, Sonnen came into the tournament as the only fighter to have ever competed at 185-pounds in the middleweight division which is where he made his name and earned two of his UFC title shots against Anderson Silva.
When it comes to fighters that aren’t natural heavyweights in the tournament, along with Sonnen there is Bader who is the champion in the division below. And seeing that the pair has made it to the semi-finals, there may be some truth to Sonnen’s comments. Perhaps even more so if he and Bader do wind up facing off with each other after this weekend concludes.
Chael Sonnen, a former UFC fighter-turned-analyst, quickly gave his thoughts on the UFC 310 pay-per-view main event between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura, which headlines this Saturday.
