UFC veteran suggests KSI may have been in cahoots with Joe Fournier for the controversial elbow KO
UFC veteran Chael Sonnen thinks KSI may have 'been in cahoots' with Joe Fournier, who the YouTuber beat via second-round KO. KSI had one of the most bizarre victories at last weekend's Misfits boxing event, with the victory confounding many analysts and critics.
The victory drew so much attention and ire because the YouTuber got the knockout via an elbow strike, which is an illegal move in boxing. Chael Sonnen thinks that KSI and Joe Fournier may have been working together and that the fight may have been fixed.
Here's what the UFC veteran said:
"I don't know how much you can put into the mannerisms of KSI and him coming out and tarnishing his own victory - I don't know about that. Maybe he's just a really sweet guy. Or maybe he's smart enough to know that he's going to get roasted for a couple of days on Twitter if he was to do that, and he's a sensitive guy."
Skip to 9:25 of Chael Sonnen's thoughts on the recent Misfits boxing main event:
Chael Sonnen continued:
"But you have a problem, which is the jaded pro that ate the elbow, pretended to get knocked out. What do you do with that? And if you're his opponent and you don't call that out, you instead take the sweet and nice approach, it's going to appear, at least to some that you were in on it."
How did UFC veteran Michael Bisping react to KSI's knockout of Joe Fournier?
On his YouTube channel, the former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping gave his thoughts on the fight between the YouTuber-turned-boxer and the billionaire Fournier. 'The Count' thought KSI looked good in his fight leading up to that questionable elbow.
'The Count' then spoke about how he once trained with the YouTuber and how he really likes him. Like most analysts, Michael Bisping had questions about the bout's outcome but acknowledged that illegal blows are an inevitable part of the game that tend to happen occasionally.
Here's what he said:
"[Joe Fournier] doesn't deserve to be done dirty like that. That was clear elbow. It was a clear elbow. I don't think it was intentional by KSI; you know he was very aggressive throughout the entirety of the fight - which, again, is impressive."
Skip to 3:30 for Michael Bisping on the Misfits boxing main event:
The former UFC middleweight champion said that while the officials need to overturn the results of the fight, illegal strikes are an inevitable aspect of the fight game, unintentional or otherwise.
'The Count' continued:
"Illegal blows, they are a thing. They exist. You know, obviously, in mixed martial arts, you're allowed to use punches, kicks, knees, elbows, submissions, and all the rest of it. So, it's a little harder to land illegal blows [in MMA]."