{"id":243522,"date":"2017-07-03T08:38:50","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T15:38:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=243522"},"modified":"2017-07-03T08:38:50","modified_gmt":"2017-07-03T15:38:50","slug":"chael-sonnen-gets-called-bellator-middleweight-champ-rafael-carvalho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-gets-called-bellator-middleweight-champ-rafael-carvalho\/","title":{"rendered":"Chael Sonnen gets called out by Bellator middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, in the main event of Bellator NYC, three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen took on one of his fiercest rivals in Wanderlei Silva. Though he was rocked badly by a punch mid-way through the fight, Sonnen dominated with his wrestling through the rest of the encounter, and ultimately won himself a unanimous decision as a result.<\/a><\/p>\n

Though Sonnen followed this performance with callouts of Bellator stars like Fedor Emelianenko, Rory MacDonald, and even Chuck Liddell, he has been called out himself by the Bellator middleweight champion Rafael Carvalho.<\/p>\n

Carvalho, who is a riding high after a thunderous, head-kick knockout defeat of striking specialist Melvin Manhoef<\/a>, made his callout of Sonnen in an interview with MMAFighting.com<\/a>. Apparently, Carvalho is hoping to meet Sonnen in a light heavyweight super fight, rather than a middleweight title defense.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI want to challenge Sonnen,\u201d Carvalho explained. \u201cInstead of doing another title defense, make this superfight.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Carvalho then explained how he believes this potential showdown would unfold.<\/p>\n

\"Rafael<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cHe only has that wrestling game, and I believe that after I defend his first three takedowns, he won\u2019t shoot anymore,\u201d Carvalho said. \u201cI’ll be honest with you, nothing he did [against Wanderlei Silva] surprised me. Standing and trading with Wanderlei is not for everyone, and Sonnen is not stupid. He realized that when he tried and almost got knocked out.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cWith a knee, in the third round,\u201d Carvalho said when asked how he believes he would defeat Sonnen. \u201cI would induce him to go for a takedown and I would find an opening for my knee.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n

With his defeat of Silva, Chael Sonnen rebounded from a submission loss to Tito Ortiz. He’s now 1-1 \u00a0in the Bellator cage. Carvalho, meanwhile, has gone 5-0 in the Bellator cage.<\/p>\n

Who do you think wins a light heavyweight scrap between “The American Gangster” Chael Sonnen and the Bellator middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho?<\/p>\n

This article first appeared on\u00a0<\/i>BJPenn.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>\u00a0on 7\/3\/2017.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last weekend, in the main event of Bellator NYC, three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen took on one of his fiercest rivals in Wanderlei Silva. Though he was rocked badly by a punch mid-way through the fight, Sonnen dominated with his wrestling through the rest of the encounter, and ultimately won himself a unanimous decision […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54430,"featured_media":197684,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10104],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nChael Sonnen gets called out by Bellator middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/chael-sonnen\/chael-sonnen-gets-called-bellator-middleweight-champ-rafael-carvalho\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chael Sonnen gets called out by Bellator middleweight champ Rafael Carvalho | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last weekend, in the main event of Bellator NYC, three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen took on one of his fiercest rivals in Wanderlei Silva. 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