Chael Sonnen says he was ready, offered to step in vs. Fedor Emelianenko at last minute

Bellator president Scott Coker was presented with a very difficult decision just hours before Bellator 172: What to do about the main event, what with the MMA world looking forward to the U.S. return and company debut of Fedor Emelianenko while his scheduled opponent, Matt Mitrione, was dealing with a painful kidney story.

As we now know, Coker made the tough call to scrap the main event but not the entire show, elevating the Patricky Freire-Josh Thomson fight to the headliner slot.

Chael Sonnen, who served as a commentator on the Spike-televised event, commended Coker for the way things were handled.

“I thought Coker really went to the next best thing,” Sonnen told MMAjunkie. “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.”

Not that Coker and Co. necessarily had to pull Emelianenko off the card. Sonnen said he was ready to fill in to face him, if the company wanted to go in that direction.

“I was the only guy that offered (to step in), and I was trying to get myself involved there,” Sonnen said. “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.”

Check out the video above to hear more from Sonnen.

And for complete coverage of Bellator 172, check out the MMA Events section of the site.