Bellator 172 fick sig ett hastigt bortfall då Matt Mitrione drabbades av njursten, och fick plockas bort från matchen mot Fedor Emelianenko. En som erbjöd sig att möta Emelianenko på kort varsel var ingen mindre än Chael Sonnen, och detta hade han att säga om hela situationen via ”MMAJunkie”:
I thought Coker really went to the next best thing. I think everybody in that house left happy and with a smile on their face. They deserve a lot of credit for what they did and what they faced less than 24 hours from bell time.
I was the only guy that offered (to step in), and I was trying to get myself involved there. Bellator wanted Oli Thompson. He was on the card, he had already weighed in, and he was going to fight Cheick Kongo. So they wanted to move him from the Cheick Kongo fight to the Fedor fight. We were the only names that were taken to Fedor. …
The first rule in show business is that the show must go on. I didn’t really think of it as too much of a courageous gesture on my part or anything like that. I’m a fighter; he’s a fighter. I’m there; he’s there. It seemed like pretty simple math to me.
Sist vi såg Sonnen fightas tog han sig an Tito Ortiz, en match som han förlorade via submission i första ronden under Bellator 170.
