Sonnen (left) and Ortiz (right) faced each other at Bellator 170. (Photo: Disclosure)
It's been over a month since Tito Ortiz finished Chael Sonnen in the main fight of Bellator 170, on January 21st, but the result of the fight still causes controversy, at least for the loser. According to Sonnen, Tito verbally gave up after being caught in a guillotine choke, but the fight continued because referee John McCarthy didn't listen.
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“Look, Tito fought in that fight. I saw he hit. I heard him give up verbally and I never said a word about it. The only reason I never said anything in the first place is that when you lose, you just accept your defeat. It is not a withdrawal if the judge did not interpret it as a withdrawal. So, Tito didn't knock. I thought he had given up and I let a move happen. He verbally quit and I never said anything about it and the reason is he retired from the sport five seconds later. He withdrew from the sport five seconds after I crashed and one minute and five seconds after he crashed,” declared the American in the most recent episode of ‘You’re Welcome’, his internet podcast show.
Without swallowing the defeat, Chael even suggested a “tiebreaker” with his opponent, remembering the duel he won in a wrestling competition, played years ago. “There was no rematch. There was nothing to build on and no reason to tell the true story. (…) The score between me and Tito is one to one and you always end up in a fight. Everyone knows that”, he concludes.
Through social media, Tito didn't let it go and responded to his rival in an ironic way. “Chael Sonnen, you are my b***”, wrote the former fighter.
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