Chael Sonnen (photo via Bellator)

By FCF Staff

Chael Sonnen will battle fellow UFC vet Lyoto Machida at Bellator 222, and recently the outspoken fighter outlined why he believes he could be in for a tough night.

Sonnen will face the former UFC champ in the main event of the June 14th card, which will take place at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Recently the promotion held a pre-fight presser for the event, and during it, the decorated wrestler had this to say about Machida (quotes via MMA Junkie):

“It drives me nuts,” Sonnen said. “I’ve seen all of his fights. Nobody wants to fight wrestlers, you just fight them when you have to. He’s like the wrestler killer. You name it, to (Mark) Munoz, to (Ryan) Bader, to Rashad (Evans), and I don’t know why. I watched him 20 times. I stayed up until 3 in the morning watching him last night.

“I cannot figure out why nobody can close that distance and get their hands on him. It’s a hard one. He moves, constantly. Then you step in, he steps back. You can never close that distance, nobody can. I watched Jon Jones for nine minutes at it, it’s one of those really tough things. That’s the intrigue.”

Sonnen (30-16-1) will be competing for the first time since October, when he was stopped by Fedor Emelianenko. Machida (25-8), meanwhile, made his Bellator debut in December and recorded a split decision win over Rafael Carvalho.