Tito Ortiz isn’t shedding tears over Chael Sonnen’s retirement.
This past Friday night (June 14), Sonnen shared the cage with Lyoto Machida. The light heavyweight scrap served as Bellator 222’s co-main event. Sonnen survived a flush flying knee to the jaw in the opening frame, but couldn’t withstand a jumping knee in the second stanza. After his TKO loss to Machida, Sonnen took off his gloves and announced his retirement.
Ortiz Thankful For Machida’s TKO Win Over Sonnen
Things got heated between Ortiz and Sonnen going into their Jan. 2017 bout. Ortiz took Sonnen’s comments personally and even after he submitted “The American Gangster,” the war of words didn’t stop. Ortiz took to his Instagram account to thank Machida for his performance against Sonnen:
“Thank you [Lyoto Machida]. The only reason I posted this!!! Just so you people know that [Chael] said some things about my family pre-fight. I beat him and he came to my dressing room after the fight and said if we are cool? I told him to apologize at the press conference and we would be good. He didn’t. A month after the fight he started talk shit about my kids. Sorry people I don’t know how you were raised but another person should not talk about a man’s family. Period.”
Sonnen leaves mixed martial arts competition with a record of 31-17-1. “The American Gangster” has competed under the UFC, Bellator, WEC, and Pancrase banners.
