Chael Sonnen critical of Max Holloway’s performance at UFC Vegas 42: “He got blessed by being a pain in the ass”

Former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen was not impressed with Max Holloway’s performance against Yair Rodriguez.

Holloway (23-6 MMA), the UFC’s former featherweight champion, was returning to action on Saturday for the first time since laying a beating on Calvin Kattar back in January. ‘Blessed’ had gone just 2-3 over his past five fights.

Meanwhile, Yair Rodriguez (13-3 MMA) was ending a two-year hiatus at UFC Vegas 42. ‘El Pantera’ had last competed in October of 2019, where he earned a unanimous decision victory over veteran Jeremy Stephens.

Saturday’s ‘Holloway vs Rodriguez’ fight proved to be a thrilling five round affair. Despite most pros commending both ‘Blessed’ and ‘El Pantera’ for their respective performances, Chael Sonnen was not left impressed with the Hawaiian.

Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42

The retired middleweight shared his post-fight analysis on his YouTube channel:

“That’s what Max does. Max is the pain in the ass. They keep calling him Max ‘Blessed’? He got blessed by being a pain in the a**. That’s who he is. Max did not bring anything in this fight. And I’m hearing people. I just had to turn off the post-fight press conference being led by Dana [White]. Had to turn that off to come talk to you guys here,” Chael Sonnen said (h/t Sportskeeda). “But even Dana in the post-fight is having a hard (time) getting anything together to put praise on Max aside from how tough this guy is, how scary he is, how out of his mind he is about protecting himself and instead just going forward and worry about the rest later.”

Do you agree with Chael Sonnen that Max Holloway did not bring anything in his fight with Yair Rodriguez at UFC Vegas 42? Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!