Chael Sonnen Says He Needs To Fight Rory MacDonald
Chael Sonnen hasn’t been seen inside the cage since earning a unanimous decision win over Wanderlei Silva in the main event of Bellator 180.
Whether it is his next fight or not, the MMA veteran says he needs to fight Rory MacDonald at some point in his career.
“I’m at an event, it was going to be Fedor (versus) Mitrione, and Rory had just signed on Tuesday, and today is Friday. So I end up in an elevator with him and he’s eating an apple, which becomes relevant in the story later. We’re in the elevator and we’re heading down and I say, ‘Hey, congrats! What are you looking to fight?’ He says, ‘I don’t know, maybe Paul Daley’. Then he says, ‘Maybe Josh Koscheck’. Then he takes a bite of his apple, and he looks up and goes: ‘Maybe you.’ Right as he says that, the doors open. I wished him well and that was the end of it, we were on our way. He knows that we have to fight there is no way around it. We can’t just act like that didn’t happen. It happened,” he said on The MMA Hour. “I told you it was a pretty simple story. We can’t really build an event around this, but any guy who’s listening to this knows that I have to fight him. I don’t have a choice.”
MacDonald made his promotional debut at Bellator 179, where he submitted Paul Daley in the second round of the main event encounter.
Sonnen also admits he may have to wait awhile because MacDonald may be fighting for a title next.
“Rory has got a different path. Nothing is really built for speed right now in MMA, but Rory is going to go, as I understand it, for a championship fight with Douglas (Lima). I think that’s done. All they need is a date at this point," says Sonnen.
The two fighters also spent time together in the UFC, but their paths never crossed during their time in that promotion.
