Chael Sonnen: Junior Dos Santos lost years off his life and should fire his cornerman after UFC 166

Junior dos Santos may have a few less years remaining in his combat sports career -- and his life -- thanks to the beating he suffered at the hands of current Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight Champion Cain Velasquez back on Oct. 19, 2013 in Houston, Texas (watch it here).

That's according to Chael Sonnen, who took issue with the fact that "Cigano's" corner didn't put a halt to the punishment by stopping the championship fight long before it came to an end in round five.

Something company president Dana White previously expressed, as well.

"The American Gangster" aired his beef in the only way he knows how during a recent Q & A session (replay here) in Manchester, England:

"Junior Dos Santos' cornerman needs to be cut, period. That was beyond inappropriate, that they sent him back out there. The doctor comes in twice, what that doctor was looking for I have no idea. The referee didn't stop the fight, though he should have. Ultimately, it defaults to your cornerman, who you trust, who is like a father figure, and that guy let Junior Dos Santos down, period. The commission licenses these cornermen. I don't have the foggiest idea why; I guess just to take their $25. That should be the first cornerman that's suspended, that was beyond wrong what he did. You do not stop the fight when your fighter can no longer continue. You stop the fight when your fighter can no longer win. The second your guy can't win, you get him out of there. That fight should have been stopped way earlier. It knocked years off of Junior's life and career, that cornerman should be fired."

After the fight, Junior claimed he was fighting on auto pilot after round two and said he didn't remember some of the action that went down.

When asked if Team Dos Santos ever considered throwing in the towel, Yuri Carlton, Junior's jiu-jitsu coach, said that never crossed their minds as they were crossing their fingers and hoping for a fight-ending knockout punch or submission from their fighter.

It never came and Cain became the first man to defend the 265-pound strap in consecutive fights since Brock Lesnar did it against Frank Mir and Shane Carwin from 2009 to 2010 by ending the fight via technical knockout in the fifth and final round.

The loss to Cain was the second for Dos Santos in the span of 10 months as Velazquez handed him a similar beat down at UFC 155 last December that may have knocked a couple years off the Brazilian's career and life, as well.

Any truth to the Sonnen sentiments?