In August, talks about a potential fight between Chuck Liddell and Chael Sonnen began to float around. The two had actually begun trading words in separate interviews, but nothing really materialized.
During last week’s Bellator media lunch, Sonnen claims the match-up is now water under the bridge and was actually looking forward to a deal being made.
“Nothing. Dead issue. I thought that Chuck was coming back,” Sonnen said (via MMA Fighting). “I had good reason to believe that. He lost his job. He said he wanted to come back, then he went into the gym. This was my evidence. But I had these three pieces of evidence.”
Sonnen says he was actually disappointed about the missed opportunity while throwing shade at the UFC Hall of Famer in the process.
“That bummed me out,” Sonnen said. “What I think, regardless of the way I tell the story, I think that Chuck is probably a pretty good guy. He’s gotta walk around with that haircut, looks like he lost a bet. That can’t be easy to do.”
“It’s not easy to be Chuck. You’re broke, you snorted all your money away. It’s not an easy life to live. I don’t need me to kick him while he’s down, either. If he wanted to come back, we could agree to a match and then maybe things would be different. But I think in this setting, I wish him well.”
Sonnen is scheduled to fight Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at Bellator 192 on January 20th, to kick off the eight-man heavyweight tournament.