"Colossal whopper of a lie" - Chael Sonnen thought Beneil Dariush was lying about being a backup for Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira, but this is what changed his mind
When Chael Sonnen first saw Beneil Dariush's tweet claiming to be the replacement fighter for the UFC 280 main event, he immediately thought Dariush was lying.
However, that all changed once Sonnen became aware that Dariush was indeed fighting on the UFC 280 fight card against Mateusz Gamrot. 'The American Gangster' knew that the pair had signed a contract to fight each other, but didn't know that it was taking place in Abu Dhabi.
According to Sonnen, this changed the entire equation:
"Benny comes out with this whopper of a lie. Just this colossal whopper of a lie that he drops on all of our laps. That was last night. This morning rolls around, I find out Benny's on the card. Now I knew that Beny was going to fight Gamrot, I did know that. I just didn't realize it was on this card. That changes everything."
Watch the video below from 1:45:
Chael Sonnen believes that it is common practice for the UFC to have another fight scheduled on a pay-per-view card that is in the same weight class as the scheduled title bout. 'The American Gangster' now seems to think that Dariush will be the one to take the place of Charles Oliveira or Islam Makhachev, should disaster strike.
Chael Sonnen says Khamzat Chimaev will remain at welterweight, but that doesn't mean he should
Chael Sonnen recently posted a video on his YouTube channel discussing Khamzat Chimaev's battle with the scale at UFC 279.
'The American Gangster' labeled Chimaev's missed weight as "the most interesting thing he has done yet", partly because a chink in the Chechen-Swede's armor has been discovered. Sonnen believes that 'Borz' should move to middleweight, particularly due to his proven success in that weight class.
However, 'The American Gangster' thinks that the UFC will keep 'Borz' at 170 lbs for now:
"Now I don't think I'm going to win this by the way, I think he is going to get booked at welterweight. I think a year from now when we're having this conversation about Chimaev, which will be about 3 or 4 fights down the road, he's still at welterweight. I don't think that Chael is gonna win out here, even though I am the voice of reason."
Watch the video below from 3:20:
Chael Sonnen believes that Chimaev should find a new home at 185 lbs and that the UFC shouldn't fear whether 'Borz' will be competitive or not at a heavier weight class. If 'The American Gangster' is correct and Chimaev remains at 170 lbs, it will be fascinating to see if him missing weight was a one-off situation or not.