Chael Sonnen isn’t buying Alexander Volkanovski’s sales pitch.
This past weekend, Volkanovski successfully defended his featherweight title with a second-round stoppage of Movsar Evloev in the main event of UFC 333. The win was yet another feather in the cap of one of the greatest fighters of all time, and afterward, Volkanovski quickly began to lobby for an even grander feather: a fight with lightweight champion Justin Gaethje.
Despite the line of contenders at lightweight, Volkanovski suggested that
he and Gaethje could do a superfight, with both men retiring afterward so as to not hold up either the 145-pound of 155-pound divisions. But Chael Sonnen thinks that’s ridiculous.
“He does not know what we are doing here,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “Volkanovski just laid out one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard. … He’s gonna go up, and he’s gonna fight Justin Gaethje. He’s got no problem with him; they get along. But they’re gonna throw their arms around each other and put the gloves down in the middle when this thing is over. Who does that help? Why would anybody book that fight?
“It was just a really weird thing to do. He suggested that he goes to 155 pounds to test himself. I appreciate that, except the fact that you’re a ‘55-pounder that cuts his ass off to not fight at ‘55. You cut your ass off to not test yourself. You used to weigh 96 kgs [211 pounds]. …
“I do challenge the notion that, ‘I will go to 155 to test myself to fight Gaethje.’ That’s a cop out. That’s a cop out by anybody. I don’t mean that it’s conscious, but that it’s subconscious. If you want to go to 155 and test yourself, drop the strap and go into the division; exactly what Ilia Topuria did. Now, I understand that history is going to tell you that Ilia ended up with a title shot. He was not guaranteed a title shot when he dropped the strap and moved into the division.
“You want to test yourself, do what Max Holloway did: be a ‘45-pounder that enters ‘55 with no guarantee. Which means if I lose, I don’t get to say I lost to the best guy.’”
It’s unknown right now if the UFC has any interest in accommodating Volkanovski’s pitch, though following UFC 333, UFC CEO Dana White did suggest it would be hard to deny “The Great” many requests. That being said, Volkanovski has already had two shots to become a two-division UFC champion, losing twice to Islam Makhachev. In those instances, Volkanovski did not vacate his featherweight belt, and Sonnen seems to take umbrage with Volkanovski looking to get that same consideration for a third time.
“When Volk went up, he did not vacate; he did not burn his boats. If he was to burn his boats, he would have dropped the ‘45-pound belt. …
“There’s nothing stopping — there’s no anchor tied to your ass to do that. You can do that now. Right now. … Make a public statement, that’s all you’ve got to do to drop a belt. Tell the public you’re dropping the belt. It’s no different than we put a belt on a guy at a press conference. This really is how it works.
“You want to test yourself? I like the idea. You want Gaethje? It’s not the same thing. You want a shot at a world title that you’ve already had twice. It’s not the same thing. You want to test yourself, do what Ilia did: drop the belt, go into the division.”
TOP STORIES
Interim. Matt Brown defends Islam Makhachev, rips UFC for introducing another ‘f*cking interim title.’
Chama. ‘Go back to Chama’: Israel Adesanya questions Alex Pereira for saying he’ll return to 205 with UFC 335 loss.
GOAT. Aljamain Sterling explains why he’s not ready to call Petr Yan the bantamweight GOAT just yet.
Christmas. Nakisa Bidarian teases Darren Till as possible next opponent for Jake Paul.
Wrestling. Arman Tsarukyan wrestles Anthony Pettis in RAF 15 main event.
VIDEO STEW
The UFC Journey for Moicano vs. Tom Nolan.
Nate Diaz vlog.
DC talks to Sean O’Malley.
Patrick Habirora trains with Georges St-Pierre.
FLAVOR IN YOUR EAR
Fighter vs. Writer.
SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Movsar got a nice welcome home.
OK then.
Tell em, Big John.
Very obviously no, since he just lost.
Respect.
I don’t think that was real.
Drew Dober is trying hard to break through as a content guy. Some of it is interesting.
TJ on them good vitamins now.
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Vadim Nemkov (20-2, 1 NC) vs. Sergei Bilostenniy (15-4); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Patrick Habirora (9-0) vs. Omar El Dafrawy (16-6); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Pouya Rahmani (6-0) vs. Oleg Popov (23-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Sergio Pettis (25-8) vs. Joji Goto (21-9-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Abubakar Nurmagomedov (17-4-1) vs. David Martinez (17-6); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Khasan Magomedsharipov (11-0) vs. Adam Borics (20-4); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Asaël Adjoudj (11-1) vs. Movlid Khaybulaev (23-0-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Ernesto Rodriguez (11-2) vs. Rhys McKee (15-7-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Shem Rock (12-3-1) vs. Connor Hughes (12-3); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Alexei Pergande (8-0) vs. Akhmed Magomedov (11-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Lewis McGrillen (13-2) vs. Nawras Abzakh (15-6); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Khmazat Abaev (6-1) vs. Leon Hill (10-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Aleksandra Savicheva (8-2) vs. Jacinta Austin (9-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Khabib Nabiev (12-0) vs. Styve Ngono (8-1); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Denis Goltsov (37-9) vs. Maxwell Djantou Nana (9-2); PFL Dubai; Nov. 14
Quillan Salkilld (13-1) vs. Benoit Saint Denis (17-4, 1 NC); UFC Sydney, Feb. 6
FEED ME MORE
Mailbag!
FINAL THOUGHTS
I’m sure I’m in the minority, but letting Volkanovski get a third crack at a lightweight title would be absurdly silly when there are many more-deserving contenders waiting. But if you’re going to push for it, at least just be honest and say why you really want it: because you love Volk and want him to get a chance at a meaningless second title.
Because that’s what this is about. If he beats Gaethje and instantly retires, he won’t be the best lightweight on Earth, the same way GSP wasn’t the best middleweight. It’s just collecting a trinket, at the expense of the careers of other deserving contenders.
Chael is right: if Volk wants another lightweight title shot, go up and beat a top contender. Then no one can possibly complain.
If you find something you’d like to see in the Morning Report, hit up @AlexanderKlee or @JedKMeshew on Twitter and let us know about it. Also, follow MMAFighting on Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and like us on Facebook.
