Gallery Photos: Best of Chael Sonnen view 44 images

NEW YORK – Matt Mitrione believes the possibility of Ryan Bader and Chael Sonnen being finalists of the heavyweight grand prix would be a discredit to the whole division.

Sonnen, who meets Fedor Emelianenko in the headlining bout of Saturday’s Bellator 208 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., whole-heartedly agrees.

“I think it discredits all the heavyweights completely,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie after a Bellator 208 press conference on Thursday. “The best thing to do with heavyweights is to keep them the hell from any other weight class. They’re the worst athletes in the room. They’re the slowest guys in the room. They’re the laziest guys in the room – which is why they weigh so goddamn much.

“If you want to keep the mystique going on to the public that size matters and that the big guys are better, just because they’re bigger, if you want to keep that false narrative out there, keep us real athletes away from the heavyweights. I think (the grand prix) was a risky move. They tried it on the other side of the tracks, and a light heavyweight now has that strap, too. Heavyweights suck, Mitrione is right.”

Sonnen is, of course, referring to his former home, the UFC, where light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier became a two-division titleholder after a knockout win over Stipe Miocic.

Unlike Cormier, who used to compete at heavyweight, Sonnen just had his divisional debut in January, when he beat Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in the tournament’s first round. Should he get past Emelianenko (37-5 MMA, 1-1 BMMA), Sonnen (30-15-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) will be in the finals, where he’ll compete with the winner of Bellator 207’s battle between Mitirone (13-5 MMA, 4-0 BMMA) and 205-pound champion Bader (25-5 MMA, 3-0 BMMA).

The winner will take the promotion’s vacant heavyweight title. But if the promotion wants to speed things up, Sonnen has a thought to help save them some time in figuring out the final outcome.

“If there’s a quick fight up in the Mohegan Sun, they can just bring one of those sons of (expletives) down here, I’ll fight them tomorrow night. We can save Bellator on the travel money,” Sonnen said. “I don’t have any idea why we have to spread this thing out. People are talking about a quick turnaround to January 26; what’s quick about that? Let’s go on the back, let’s have a drink of water, let’s walk back out there. If I’ve got to change my shorts so there’s a red corner, blue corner, let’s do it.

“Matt Mitirone is saying I’m too small to win this tournament? I cut him in half and fight him twice. Why do I give a damn what Matt Mitrione thinks? He can bring himself and Ryan Bader. Ryan Bader walking around like he’s some kind of ape. I’ll treat him like an ape. I’ll sit on the crowd tomorrow night and throw bananas at him.”

As it stands, though, Emelianenko is the fight ahead of Sonnen. And while there is bound to be a size disparity between the two inside the cage, how they look next to each other is not the thing that stands out the most when talking about the ways in which they differ.

Sonnen – and look no further than the video above for a reminder of that – is one of the most outspoken, verbally crafty fighters in MMA history. While he’s had success in the cage, earning title shots in both the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions in the UFC, it’s his outside-the-cage displays that have made him such a draw.

Emelianenko is a mythical MMA character. That has a lot to do with how he demolished some of the world’s top heavyweights during his unbeaten PRIDE run, of course, but also with his mysterious aura. Emelianenko never says much and, still, there are a lot of people willing to tune in to hear him.

Sonnen knew that about Emelianenko and, therefore, wasn’t at all surprised by the fact that his opponent didn’t give him much to work with as they shared a dais. But even if he can’t quite put his finger on what is it about Emelianenko’s shtick, he knows one thing: it works.

“He shows up in a language that nobody can understand, in a T-shirt that nobody can read, and somehow that gets over,” Sonnen said. “And I wouldn’t encourage any young fighter to copy that example, unless you want to have a short career and no money, and bad memories when it’s over. I would encourage you to find another guy and take his paradigm. But it seems to work for him.

“I’m not really saying this to be the skunk of the garden party, as much as to point out that, look, he figured something out. (Former UFC heavyweight champion) Brock Lesnar is the same way. There’s a mystique around them that happens to work and less is more. If he opens his mouth, he runs the risk of ruining the mystique. It’s still a marketing angle, it’s still a gimmick, and people can choose to believe that he’s the world’s nicest guy. And he might be, but he might not. You don’t know him, and neither do I.”

Emelianenko did comment on a thing or two – even if it was to say he had no comments. Like, for instance, when he was asked about the melee that took place after the UFC 229 main event, in which UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov attacked one of Conor McGregor’s cornermen and fellow Bellator fighter Dillon Danis.

“I cannot give you any comments, because I didn’t watch this fight,” Emelianenko said through a translator. “During my camp, I don’t watch any fights. I have heard about the brawl. But at the moment, I’m not going into details.”

Does Sonnen believe that’s the case – or is Emelianenko simply trying to avoid ruffling feathers among his fellow Russians?

“He’s a nerd, man. I don’t know what nerds do,” Sonnen said. “I satisfy the other end of the market. The cool kids come watch Chael fight. I don’t have any idea. He’s walking around, he’s holding the King James. Keep that stuff private. I don’t know. Who cares if he watched it or he didn’t watch it?”

Sonnen’s ultimate assessment of Thursday’s press conference experience? “A total snoozefest.” But here’s Sonnen’s unsurprising, time-saving suggestion to Bellator’s show-runners: Just do what we did, turn the camera directly to him, and just let him do his thing.

“I’ve sold more pay-per-views than anybody, more tickets than anybody, that was on the other side of the bridge,” Sonnen said. “Now I’m over there with the boys in San Jose – I still have the live gate record. I did it a year ago, at (Madison Square Garden), and nobody’s touched it since. I will outdo myself once again; beat my own records. It’s the same thing I had to do my whole career, and nobody else wants to talk to anybody else. And I’m not even trying to be an arrogant prick about it. I realize how that sounds.

“Why would they have a press conference and bring other people in here? What the hell does anybody want to ask them for? I look around the stage – bunch of very nice guys, bunch of guys that I like very much. I did’t even know when they were on the card until they sat down here today. And I love the sport. I follow it very closely, and I didn’t have the foggiest idea. And neither did you, and neither did anybody else. I’m just looking around going, ‘You know, we really could have saved some time.’”

For more on Bellator 208, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.