Chael Sonnen (photo via Bellator)

By FCF Staff

Following Chael Sonnen’s loss to Lyoto Machida “The American Gangster” announced his memorable career has to come to an end. But, Sonnen says he didn’t have plans to retire if he was defeated.

Sonnen was stopped by Machida in round two of Bellator 222’s co-main event, which prompted the 42-year-old to hang up the gloves. While discussing his decision to retire during the post-fight press conference, Sonnen said this (quote via MMA Fighting):

“No, I didn’t have that planned,” Sonnen said. “I thought I was going to win this fight, I was going to call out Ryan Bader. Everything was going my way until it wasn’t. But I don’t regret it. It was a No. 1 contender’s match, I thought it was a big opportunity, and it was. And it’s somebody else’s turn.”

“You’ve got to be tough in this sport. And I feel like I used all my toughness up,” Sonnen said. “There were some positions in there that before in my career I would have walked right through them. I didn’t mind losing to him in his spots, like some of the stuff on our feet, those jumping knees and whatnot, but I did mind losing to him in my spots…

“I used to be tougher. I used to want it more. I used to have more grit. And I just felt like maybe I fired my last bullet, I didn’t have that same grit and it’s time to move on.”

Sonnen retires having gone 30-17-1 during his pro-career, which started all the way back in 1997.