Chael Sonnen pitches a surprising contender for Belal Muhammad’s first title defense

Chael Sonnen believes a title eliminator fight between two top contenders could set Belal Muhammad up to face an up-and-coming welterweight star.

Muhammad earned the UFC welterweight title by defeating Leon Edwards at UFC 304 in July. The title win capped off a remarkable run in the cage, including several wins over former title challengers.

Muhammad is expected to return soon to defend the belt, potentially by the end of the year. Shavkat Rakhmonov is a likely contender for the next title shot after an unbeaten streak to start his career.

But, Sonnen believes that Rakhmonov isn’t a sure thing for the next welterweight title shot. He shared an unorthodox pick to face Muhammad next.

Chael Sonnen pitches Belal Muhammad vs. Ian Machado Garry title fight

In a recent video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Sonnen explained why Ian Machado Garry would make sense for Muhammad.

“I’m not sure that Ian Garry isn’t the strongest idea,” Sonnen said. “I know he’s young and that 0 is beautiful, but he has worked his way up the ranks. There’s nowhere you can put him now that isn’t gonna be an extremely difficult fight. If you try to get cutesy with it and you have an elimination fight, you will succeed. You will eliminate a guy that could be coming in to fight for a championship. It’s a problem. It requires great consideration…

“If Kamaru [Usman] was to fight [Shavkat] Rakhmonov, I don’t see any bad thing that happens there,” Sonnen continued. “While that’s happening, you put Ian Garry against Belal. Now Ian Garry is probably the least deserving of the three. But Belal vs. Garry, Rakhmonov versus Usman makes more sense than taking those four guys and changing the order.” (h/t MMA Knockout)

Muhammad recently teased a potential No. 1 contender fight between Rakhmonov and Kamaru Usman. Garry defeated Michael ‘Venom’ Page by unanimous decision at UFC 303 to surge up the welterweight rankings.