Chael Sonnen recently weighed on an ongoing Bellator beef and made a bold comparison to his own with Anderson Silva. He even claimed that the promotion could be close to needing additional security measures.
Bellator Champions Series:Paris is attracting plenty of attention from the MMA and kickboxing communities as Jaleel Willis has sounded off on Cedric Doumbe. He has brought up the fact that he is the more experienced fighter, which could be taken as an insult because of the Frenchman's kickboxing career.
Sonnen uploaded a video to his X (formerly Twitter) account, where he analyzed the beef between the welterweight competitors as well as Willis' comments. 'The American Gangster' mentioned that 'The Realest' labelling the Frenchman as inexperienced has rallied the country and kickboxing fans. He said:
"I've gone down that road myself when I was trying to get heat with a guy. The guy's fans, his own countrymen, they all got brought in as well and they did not like it. It adds to the environment and before I know when it's time to actually go to that country, I got to ride around in a bulletproof car with armed security. And we are one small step...Jaleel is just about to be in that same car."
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Check out Chael Sonnen's full comments regarding Cedric Doumbe and Jaleel Willis' beef below:
How is the ongoing Cedric Doumbe-Jaleel Willis beef similar to Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen?
Although the upcoming Cedric Doumbe vs. Jaleel Willis clash isn't the main event of Bellator Champions Series: Paris, the circumstances leading up to the bout do resemble the back-and-forths we saw in the build-up to Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen.
The buildup has gotten personal with Willis taking jibes at Doumbe, who is beloved in France. The animosity and buildup could result in quite a lively and hostile crowd on May.17.
As Sonnen pointed out in the aforementioned tweet, he is no stranger to being in Willis' situation. During the buildup for his UFC middleweight title fight against Silva, 'The American Gangster' relished in the villain role as he took aim at 'The Spider', other top Brazilian fighters, and the country itself. The buildup resulted in him being despised by Brazil and a number of Brazilian fighters.
Sonnen and Silva are now on good terms and had a hilarious exchange following 'The Spider's' press conference for his bout against Jake Paul. He said:
"You never come to my house [for] the barbeque. Why?...You need to come, please. [In Brazil?] No, here, in Brazil a lot of people try to kill you."
Check out Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva's hilarious exchange below: