The retired UFC star thinks hardcore MMA fans have a skewed perspective of Emelianenko and his accomplishments, he said Monday on the 300th episode of The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani. Sonnen doesn't think "The Last Emperor" is really on the radar of the casual fanbase.
"He's definitely overrated," Sonnen said. "But he's not that highly rated. The people who listen to your show, the people who listen to my podcast, we have some hardcore fans. They watched him over in Japan. They watched some of those matches and they're more than happy to forget when he came over to the states and actually did a sanctioned fight with a real referee that's not wearing an earpiece.