UFC legend Chael Sonnen caused a stir with his assessment of the upcoming weight change of Islam Makhachev.
The lightweight title holiday of the Dagestani remains the city's conversation in mixed martial arts, with fans, hunters and analysts who debate the real reason for that.
Charles Oliveira set Makhachev's move to weight struggle, but others went with a different, more negative approach to the situation.
Ilia Topuria Branded Makhachev a 'coward', claiming that he is running away from their matchup, which was expected to serve as the next defense of the champion.
And Sonnen seemed to share a similar sentiment himself, although he denies that he is using such a terminology. Anyway, the manager of Makhachev saw enough in his comments to call the number of the UFC legend.
'Irritated' Ali Abdelaziz named Chael Sonnen in the midst of Islam Makhakev back and forth
Many quickly stood behind the lightweight Kingpin after Sonnen suggested that his welterweight movement was a sign of 'cowardice'.
Daniel Cormier defended Makhachev, just like another of his former teammates on the American Kickboxing Academy in Josh Thomson.
Another to quickly push back on the Take's Take of Sonnen was apparently the manager of Makhachev, Ali Abdelaziz.
During a recent video on his YouTube channel, 'The Bad Guy' tried to clarify his opinion and remembered the phone call he received from the “irritated” Dominance MMA CEO.
“Islam did not want to do that fight [against Topuria] As far as he left the division and had taken his belt away, “said Sonnen.” Islam, when he started talking about to 170 [pounds]… he was not armed with the information that Ilia Topuria was knocking on his door, I understand. But it is not the way in which future civilization will be dictated this story.
“When my version of this story was told, it said,” Chael Sonen said that Islam was a coward. ” … I don't apologize for something … I didn't call him a coward, I just didn't get a phone call from Ali yesterday.
“He calls me – and I could see from Ali's tone and his accusations, I could see that he didn't hear me say it. He had heard how someone else was reported … And Ali was pretty annoyed that I would say this about Islam.”
Islam Makhachev's own response to Chael Sonnen
Sonnen also received a reaction from Makhachev itself – supposedly.
A post on the X account of the Russian repeated that a pursuit of “greatness” is the reason behind the switch from Makhachev to Welterweight.
And a cunning excavation near Sonen also came in his way, in which the American legend was called someone who had to use 'cheap garbage play' to rise through the UFC ranks.
“Hushing hype and money is not the same as chasing greatness in sport. But [an] Average athlete, who built his way to the top with cheap waste conversation, will not understand that. So please [sit] And see how others do it, Uncle Chael. #doubleChamp “
Hushing hype and money is not the same as chasing greatness in sport. But the average athlete, which built its way to the top with cheap waste conversation, will not understand that. So please sit down and see how others do it, Uncle Chael. #doubleChamp
– Makhachev Islam (@makhachevmma) 22 May 2025
View tweet
Of course many have long believed that Abdelaziz is the face that places behind the reports of his hunters, so perhaps those words focused on son also came from the MMA CEO dominance.