Chael Sonnen believes Conor McGregor’s title aspirations are doomed if Dustin Poirier wins at UFC 269

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen believes Conor McGregor’s title aspirations will be doomed if Dustin Poirier wins at UFC 269.

Poirier (28-6 MMA) is set to challenge reigning UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira (31-8 MMA) in the headliner of tomorrow night’s pay-per-view event in Las Vegas. ‘The Diamond’ earned his title shot by scoring back-to-back TKO victories over Conor McGregor (22-6 MMA) in his most recent efforts.

UFC President Dana White recently stated that ‘Notorious’ is “chomping at the bit” to return, and his focus seems to be on a fourth fight with Dustin Poirier.

However, for former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen, the only way Conor has a chance of fighting Dustin a fourth time is if Poirier loses to Oliveira this weekend.

“Conor’s pretty set on fighting Dustin Poirier,” Sonnen said (h/t MMAFighting). “If Poirier beats Oliveira, as the oddsmakers think he’s going to do, I don’t think there’s a scenario where Conor comes back, even for a grudge match, into a title fight. That’s a tough sell.”

McGregor recently shared some photos online showcasing his new “190 lbs of granite” physique.

Conor McGregor puts on muscle mass ahead of UFC return

Chael Sonnen was not impressed by those images and voiced the following concerns with the photographs:

“So there is this picture floating around of Conor McGregor looking bigger than we have ever seen him weighing something like 190lbs. And (Sean) O’Malley said ‘Man, I don’t know if that helps you in fighting’, and I don’t know where it would help you in fighting. And if he does in fact weigh one hundred and ninety pounds, he should not be going down to 155. Now, hold that thought because Sean is the only one to state the obvious. First off, that picture of Conor, he did not look great.”

Chael Sonnen continued:

“Conor is chiseled man. There’s clothing people that pay Conor to wear their stuff. He’s got this fantastic build. That picture of him at 190 [lbs], I can’t give those same compliments. He looked like he was extremely bloated. And when somebody weighs 190 – that’s used to weighing 155, 175; what you have to wonder is how. How did you get this big? Why? The answer to me seems redundantly obvious. You’re not training.”

Do you agree with Chael Sonnen that Conor McGregor’s title aspirations will be doomed with a Dustin Poirier win at UFC 269? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!