This past Saturday in New York, Bellator MMA held their first pay-per view event, which featured a number of high-profile fights. In the main event, former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen stepped into the cage against longtime rival, former Pride FC champion Wanderlei Silva, for a highly anticipated showdown four years in the making.
When the two met in the cage, it was Sonnen who dominated the fight, repeatedly taking Silva down throughout the course of the three round affair. With that being said, while Silva may have had no answer to Sonnen’s takedowns, Silva did manage to tag Sonnen behind the ear early on in the fight, momentarily causing Sonnen’s legs to give out. Despite that, Sonnen was able to continuously control the fight, earning himself a unanimous decision win.
Following the fight, Wanderlei Silva released a statement on the loss, revealing that he thoroughly enjoyed returning to fighting, however he has now released another statement via social media.
Check it out below:
“It was a fresh start, I like to see the mistakes and the correct ones, I felt very good preparation, I managed to recover very well between the rounds, the best moment of the fight was ours, my mistake was technical and lack of rhythm, 4 years standing) I’m more than happy to have passed all the tests, physical and mental, you do not imagine the pressure of doing the main event in the Madison square garden, with the house completely crowded, people up, back, and millions I see you all over the world.
There are no excuses for one more defeat, I know I could have avoided those falls, and I’ll train for it! .
Thank you dear brothers and sisters.
We are many, the promoters of @bellatormma were impressed, with the number of people we reached
We beat all the audience records of the event, this shows the size of our fans.
I can say is that I loved coming back, and I’m going to prepare myself very well to get back much better! Let’s go to war heyyyyyy !!!”
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/27/2017.