Chael Sonnen clears the air surrounding his critique of Islam Makhachev for not facing Ilia Topuria: "I don't find him to be a coward"
Chael Sonnen has somewhat walked back on his characterization of Islam Makhachev as a coward for moving up to welterweight instead of fighting Ilia Topuria. The basis of his previous claim was that the Dagestani star was avoiding a difficult matchup in Topuria.
That instead of defending his lightweight title against an undefeated fighter with a complete MMA skill-set and nuclear punching power, he preferred a seemingly easier stylistic matchup in Jack Della Maddalena at welterweight for the 170-pound title. Sonnen, though, claims to have been misunderstood.
During a recent appearance on the On Paper with Anthony Smith podcast, the former three-time UFC title challenger said the following:
"I was describing a scenario, and what I called him was a coward, and what got quoted by ESPN and something called MMA Censored [Uncensored], which got a pretty good social media following, was I referred to Islam as a coward. Now, I went back and watched it and thought, 'Man, if I said that, I would have misspoke.' I just wouldn't use that word about Islam. I don't find him to be a coward, I find him to be a great competitor."
He did, however, highlight that what he had been referring to was a scenario that could portray Makhachev in a cowardly light.
"But I did describe the scenario, and the scenario I described was that he gets confronted, and it does matter, it matters the order of events. Did Islam inform the UFC of his intention to move to 170 pounds to fight for the title prior to the UFC offering him Ilia Topuria? If the UFC offered and showed that they wanted a title defense against the undefeated 145-pound champion and he said no, and he said no to the extent that he was willing to leave the division and be stripped [of the title]?"
Check out Chael Sonnen clarifying his comments about Islam Makhachev (9:12):
Sonnen's comments led to several conversations throughout the MMA world, with fellow UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier disagreeing with his take.
Chael Sonnen and Islam Makhachev have had a brief feud
After catching wind of Chael Sonnen's comments about him, Islam Makhachev took to X/Twitter with a scathing rebuttal. He mocked the UFC icon's career, saying:
"Chasing hype and money is not the same as chasing greatness in sport. But average athlete, who built his way to the top with cheap trash talk, won't understand that. So please seat and watch how others doing it, uncle Chael."
Naturally, Sonnen had a rebuttal of his own, where he warned Makahchev against offering him his opinions. Tensions, though, seem to have died down.