EXCLUSIVE | Chael Sonnen believes fights with Fedor Emelianenko and Rory MacDonald will happen

Though his widely discussed matchup with Chuck Liddell is apparently off the table, Chael Sonnen still has plenty of exciting options in the Bellator cage. Two of the most compelling of his options are heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko, and former UFC welterweight title challenger Rory MacDonald. And apparently, he expects both fights to happen.

“I think it’s hard to imagine that that doesn’t happen,” Sonnen said of a potential fight with Fedor Emelianenko on the most recent episode of BJ Penn Radio. “We’re only about 20 pounds apart. I get up to about 216 pounds – maybe that’s a little heavy – but right in there, [around] 216. [Fedor has] weighed in pretty consistently at 236 for the last number of years. So, you’re only talking about 20 pounds. I know some people say ‘don’t do that fight, he’s too big,’ but we’re only talking about 20 pounds. When I started this thing, we didn’t have weigh-ins. I’ve never cared what a guy weighed. I will acknowledge that there’s an advantage at a certain point to a certain size, but 20 pounds man, that’s not very much.”

Given that Rory MacDonald has been flirting with a future move to middleweight, Sonnen also believes that fight will happen.

“I’m quite sure I’ll have to whip Rory’s ass sooner or later here,” Sonnen said. “In fact, when I got into Bellator, that was the very first question I asked Scott Coker. Before he even knew that I was looking to come over, that I had the ability to sign with him, I just sent him a text and said ‘me versus Rory, does that interest you?’ And he said ‘it sure does, why are you asking?’ So, yeah Rory was one of the first guys on my radar.”

“I think Rory and I are very likely to be matched up. That’s one thing I like about Bellator. I like guys shifting around [between weight classes]. You’re starting to see the UFC do that too.”

Are you interested in fights between Chael Sonnen and Rory MacDonald and Fedor Emelianenko? How do you imagine these fights would go?

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 10/26/2017.