If you're wondering why Chael Sonnen is headlining Bellator's second pay-per-view event on June 15th over a legend like Fedor Emelianenko, just watch the footage coming out of yesterday's press conference. It featuring Chael and his opponent Wanderlei Silva trading a seemingly endless supply of over the top insults and obscene hand gestures.
Meanwhile, Fedor Emelianenko was his typical stoic self, and how are you supposed to sell that half as well as the kind of frothy beef Sonnen and Silva have going?
But as far as Fedor is concerned, that's not the way we should conduct ourselves in this sport. When asked by MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani (via Bloody Elbow) what he thought of Chael Sonnen's infamous bluster, the heavyweight legend allowed himself a chuckle before declaring MMA the wrong venue for funny business.
"I think you should always be in control of yourself," he said. I also feel that the more an individual talks outside of the ring, the less he does in the ring. I don't agree nor condone that type of behavior among, not just people, but sportsmen within the sport as an athlete."
Emelianenko takes these kinds of things very seriously, citing the behavior of UFC president Dana White as a key reason why he never signed with the promotion ... much to the distraught of fans everywhere. As for whether those differences with White kept Fedor from signing with the UFC in his latest round of negotiations, Fedor wouldn't say.
"There were a lot of discussions between myself and the UFC," he said. "Nothing happened with those discussions. I feel that Bellator is doing a really, really good job with everything that's been proposed so far. We will see what happens."
Alas, we'll just have to hope we can get a few more great fights out of the aging legend before he retires again. Who knows, after he fights Matt Mitrione at Bellator 180 in Madison Square Garden, perhaps he can take Mirko Cro Cop up on his offer to fight? Now there's a rivalry that doesn't need the three ring circus that Chael Sonnen brings to sell.
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