Chael Sonnen breaks down his loss to Fedor

MMA legend Fedor Emelianenko crushed Chael Sonnen Saturday night at Bellator 208 and forced the referee to stop the bout with a flurry of punches to the head at the end of the first round. Emelianenko's victory advances him to the final of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix, where he will face Ryan Bader.

After the bout, Sonnen joined ESPN's Ariel Helwani and openly discussed his loss, admitting he was "in a ball like a fool" on the mat when the fight was stopped.

"He was faster. I knew he was fast. We talked about this, I thought it was [fast] for a heavyweight. I didn't know it was just plain fast. I didn't even see some punches. I mean, he must have knocked me down four times. I felt like I just kept falling down and getting up and falling down and getting up."

Sonnen also said that while he doesn't disagree with the stoppage, he didn't think the referee was going to call the fight.

"The referee was warning me. He did say 'Chael, you've got to move or I'm stopping this.' But I thought 'nah, you're not going to stop it, he's hitting me in the hands.' And that was a bit of a miscalculation…. I thought 'this is my opportunity to let him burn a little bit of energy.' And the punches were getting lighter and a little bit slower, and the breathing was going up. And I didn't think the ref would stop it if I was covered up. But you can't turtle in a ball like that. I didn't know I was in a ball like a fool until I just saw that."

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