{"id":316479,"date":"2019-06-15T09:54:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-15T16:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=316479"},"modified":"2019-06-15T09:54:12","modified_gmt":"2019-06-15T16:54:12","slug":"chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/","title":{"rendered":"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n

Machida was able to catch Sonnen with a pair of flying knees in last night\u2019s co-main event, the second of which ended Chael\u2019s night (watch that here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The loss served as Sonnen\u2019s second in a row, as he was previously defeated by MMA Legend Fedor Emelianenko via first round TKO at Bellator 208.<\/p>\n

Chael Sonnen, Who turned 42 years old this past April, explained his decision to retire at the Bellator 222 post-fight press conference.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t have that planned,\u201d Chael Sonnen said (transcribed by MMAMania<\/a>). \u201cI thought I was going to win this fight and call out Ryan Bader. Everything was going my way until it wasn\u2019t. But no, I don\u2019t regret it. It was a No. 1 contender\u2019s match, and I thought it was a big opportunity, and it was. It\u2019s somebody else\u2019s turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chael Sonnen continued,<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to be tough in this sport,\u201d Sonnen said. \u201cI feel like I used all of my toughness up. There was some positions in there that, before in my career, I would have walked right through them. I did mind losing to him in his spots \u2013 you know, some of the stuff on our feet and those jumping knees and whatnot. But I did mind losing to him in my spots. He was on top of me, and I didn\u2019t think he\u2019d be on top of me. I thought I could have scrambled. I thought I could have gotten up. I used to be tougher. I used to want it more. I used to have more grit, and I just felt like maybe I fired my last bullet. I didn\u2019t have that same grit, and it\u2019s time to move on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chael Sonnen competed for a UFC championship on three occasions during his career. Unfortunately for \u2018The American Gangster\u2019, he came up shorts in all three of those efforts losing to Anderson Silva (x2) and Jon Jones respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts. Machida was able to catch Sonnen with a pair of flying knees in last night\u2019s co-main event, the second of which ended Chael\u2019s night (watch that here). The loss served as Sonnen\u2019s second in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":292745,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[44,48658,10104],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nChael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA | BJPenn.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.\" \/>\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\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA | BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"| BJPenn.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chael-Sonnen-6.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"696\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"399\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bjpenndotcom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris Taylor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff\"},\"headline\":\"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\"},\"wordCount\":357,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Bellator\",\"Bellator 222\",\"Chael Sonnen\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2019\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\",\"name\":\"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA | BJPenn.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"MMA News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Bellator\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"description\":\"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization\",\"name\":\"| BJPenn.com\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png\",\"width\":600,\"height\":148,\"caption\":\"| BJPenn.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff\",\"name\":\"Chris Taylor\",\"description\":\"Manager of former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn and his website bjpenn.com. Follow me on Twitter - @CTaylor_96\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ctaylor_96\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/chris-taylor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA | BJPenn.com","description":"Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA | BJPenn.com","og_description":"Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.","og_url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/","og_site_name":"| BJPenn.com","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","article_published_time":"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00","og_image":[{"width":696,"height":399,"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/Chael-Sonnen-6.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Chris Taylor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96","twitter_site":"@bjpenndotcom","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris Taylor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris Taylor","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff"},"headline":"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA","datePublished":"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/"},"wordCount":357,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Bellator","Bellator 222","Chael Sonnen"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2019","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/","name":"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA | BJPenn.com","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website"},"datePublished":"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00","dateModified":"2019-06-15T16:54:12+00:00","description":"Following his stoppage loss to Lyoto Machida last night, fan favorite Chael Sonnen announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/chael-sonnen-explains-his-decision-to-retire-from-mma\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"MMA News","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Bellator","item":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/bellator\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Chael Sonnen explains his decision to retire from MMA"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#website","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","name":"| BJPenn.com","description":"MMA & UFC News, Results & Fight Videos","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#organization","name":"| BJPenn.com","url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/bj_penn_logo_amp.png","width":600,"height":148,"caption":"| BJPenn.com"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/instagram.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/bjpenndotcom\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/0fficialbjpenn","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/twitter.com\/bjpenndotcom"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/#\/schema\/person\/fe444b8007aa9105494afef8547151ff","name":"Chris Taylor","description":"Manager of former two-division UFC champion BJ Penn and his website bjpenn.com. Follow me on Twitter - @CTaylor_96","sameAs":["http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/ctaylor_96\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/CTaylor_96"],"url":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/author\/chris-taylor\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316479"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=316479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/316479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=316479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=316479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}