Chael Sonnen is convinced that Islam Makhachev is eager to leave lightweight division
MMA analyst Chael Sonnen has explained why he believes Islam Makhachev is eager to leave the lightweight division.
Islam Makhachev is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Championship right now. He’s also the UFC lightweight champion. Oh, and he’s also heavily teased the idea of moving up in search of a second world title. So, in summary, he’s pretty busy these days.
Alas, instead of shifting up to welterweight, Makhachev has instead toyed with the idea of going up two weight classes to 185 pounds. Given that this would serve as a jump of 30 pounds, it makes sense that some have questioned whether or not it’s a good idea.
Chael Sonnen, in a recent interview, spoke candidly about what he thinks the problem could be for Makhachev – and it’s really quite simple.
Sonnen’s Makhachev theory
“The biggest problem Islam has is a thing that beat his coach twice and that ultimately retired – Khabib did not retire because he didn’t want to fight Conor (McGregor) a second time,” Sonnen said. “The UFC showed him the wrong numbers. Every time they had a meeting, they showed more commas and more zeroes. That was the wrong number. If they would have made the weight class 170, they would have got Khabib for one more fight. They’re going to run into that same problem with Islam eventually.
“The No. 1 reason a combat athlete retires – they tell you it’s because their contract’s up, they tell you because they’ve had enough, they tell you because it’s too told – the No. 1 reason, No. 1, any combat athlete retires: they don’t want to make that weight anymore. They don’t want to beat the scale. Everything that goes into that. That is a 24/7 lifestyle to get those calories off to beat that damn scale.”
Quotes via MMA Junkie
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Topics:
Chael Sonnen Islam Makhachev UFC
