Sonnen looked so bad against Ortiz, in fact, that many members of the MMA community<\/a> were quick to suggest that the fight might have been fixed. One of these people was former UFC welterweight title challenger and current UFC analyst Dan Hardy.<\/p>\n \u201cThe #Bellator170 main event was more choreographed than a Brittany Spears music video. Shame really… It might have been a fun fight,\u201d Hardy said in a post-fight Tweet that has since been deleted.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n According to Hardy, however, this Tweet was blown way out of proportion. During Monday’s edition on The MMA Hour<\/a>, the fan favorite welterweight called in to elaborate on this Tweet, and explain what he really felt about this Ortiz vs. Sonnen fight.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019ve got to understand, I was being fatuous at the time,\u201d Hardy told host Ariel Helwani. \u201cIt was a rather flippant comment, but watching the whole build-up, and I\u2019ll give you exactly my perspective, from an analyst\u2019s point of view. I saw Chael Sonnen selling this awesome story about how much it meant to for him to beat Tito, and the whole family thing came up.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n “My question is whether Chael Sonnen went into that fight with the intention of giving it everything he\u2019s got,” he continued. “Because that was the story that he sold everybody, and that what was I was so disappointed with.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Hardy then explained his many reasons for doubting Sonnen put forth his best effort in the fight.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen [Sonnen] got in there, he did a very, very basic single-leg takedown, which even me with awful takedown defense could have stopped, and I\u2019ll allow Tito\u2019s the bigger man, but Chael\u2019s been watching him his whole career. He\u2019s been planning on fighting Tito for his whole career, so surely he would have prepped for that. Second of all, just the progression that he allowed Tito to get to mount, and the lack of defense of the arm. I mean, there was no hand fighting at all. And then the finish of the choke, it wasn\u2019t even around his neck.”<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cIf you put your own head in that same position when you watch the fight, it\u2019s silly to believe that\u2026there\u2019s a space, on the right side of his face, between the right side of your face and your right shoulder. And anybody who\u2019s been in that situation and that position knows that it\u2019s uncomfortable, yes, but it\u2019s not a choke and it\u2019s not a tapping position.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n “I don\u2019t think Bellator had anything to do with it, and I\u2019m not necessarily saying the fight was contrived in any way,\u201d Hardy continued. \u201cThat was just my first reaction when I saw it because I couldn\u2019t think of any other way that Chael would have rolled over like that. And then giving my perspective of the fact that Bellator brought him in basically as a mouthpiece to draw in an audience, but I just never got the impression that they expected him to do anything athletically. I mean, he\u2019s 40 years old, and he\u2019s been retired for a time. From my perspective it seemed like he was there to kind of give Tito this big boost, and he just looked like he didn\u2019t want to fight.”<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n What do you think of Dan Hardy’s assessment of this Tito Ortiz vs. Chael Sonnen fight? Sound off, PENN Nation!<\/p>\n This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 1\/23\/2017.<\/i><\/p>\n\n
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