Chael Sonnen Praises Jaleel Willis Ahead of Bellator Paris Clash with Cedric Doumbe

Chael
Sonnen is one of the greatest heels in mixed martial arts
history, but even he thinks Jaleel
Willis is approaching dangerous territory.

Willis might be the most hated man in Paris by the time he squares
off with French kickboxing phenom Cedric
Doumbe at Accor Arena on May 17 in the
Bellator Champions Series Paris co-main event. The Memphis
native’s verbal jabs have been non-stop, much to the delight of the
“American Gangster.”

Sonnen praised — albeit warned — Willis on his X (formerly known as
Twitter) account Wednesday after Willis insulted the French
fanbase’s MMA knowledge. Willis (16-5) criticized Doumbe’s (5-1)
lack of cage time and implied his fans only support him because
they know no better.

“When you call yourself a veteran, you’re calling the other guy
inexperienced,” Sonnen said. “And with a guy like Cedric who has
made that walk and maybe he hasn’t gotten in the cage and heard the
door shut as many times, but he crawled between those ropes and
knew what the risk was it is a massive insult.”

Sonnen added that he hasn’t seen a country’s disdain for an
opponent since his own days in the cage.

“I know a thing or two about this,” he said. “I’ve gone down that
road myself when trying to get heat with the guy’s own fans and
they did not like it. It adds to the environment. Before I knew it
I had to ride around in a bulletproof car with armed security. We
are one small step from Jaleel being in that same car.”

While Doumbe has quickly become France’s most hyped MMA prospect,
it’s been Willis who has added the spice to the Bellator Champions
Series Paris co-headliner, which will stream live on HBO’s Max app.
Coming off a first-round knockout loss to Ramazan
Kuramagomedov, Willis is slated to be the underdog against the
former two-time Glory Kickboxing welterweight king, but “The
Realest” says Doumbe is anything but the genuine article.

“I’ve been doing this long enough to peep when [someone is] worried
about me,” Willis recently wrote on his Instagram stories. “Y’all
keep hyping him up and on May 17 [I’m going to] bust his
[motherfu–ing] head wide open.”

If Willis and Doumbe continue their back-and-forth, their grudge
match could become one of the most intriguing matchups of the year.
Doumbe’s out for blood and Willis is more than willing to help him
find it.

“I have a feeling we’re going to be talking about this just as much
when it’s over,” Sonnen said.