"Rankings no longer matter” - UFC insider calls for Khamzat Chimaev vs. Bo Nickal, slams fighters for "bi*ching out"
Khamzat Chimaev is within reach of a coveted UFC title shot, but Chael Sonnen believes he should fight Bo Nickal next instead. The pair are without a doubt the best grapplers in the division, and 'The American Gangster' thinks that now would be the perfect time to schedule a clash between them.
'Borz' recently defeated Robert Whittaker by submission at UFC 308, handing 'The Reaper' the first submission loss of his promotional career. Prior to the result, it appeared that Sean Strickland would be the man next in line for a middleweight title shot.
But Chimaev's sensational performance against Whittaker left little doubt that he should be next for champion Dricus du Plessis, according to many fans and pundits.
Not Sonnen, however, who shared his thoughts on the Chechen's next fight during a recent interview with Helen Yee. The former fighter pointed to Kai Asakura, who will compete for UFC gold in his debut at UFC 310 on Dec. 7, and said:
"If I can go back to Asakura... We started doing rankings for two reasons... One, to be in line with other sports. Two, to create controversy, to create talking-points. Fighters corrupted the ranking system by using ways to b*tch out of having to fight somebody else, 'Well, he's not ranked high. It doesn't make sense.' You don't know what makes sense!"
He continued:
"I want to see Chimaev vs. Bo Nickal, but we don't get to see it because Bo is not ranked and Chimaev is ranked... Asakura is not ranked at all. I don't want to hear all the reasons why... We're taking an unranked guy and putting him in a title fight... Rankings no longer matter... What do I want for Chimaev? I wanna see him fight Bo Nickal."
Check out Chael Sonnen discuss Khamzat Chimaev below (8:55):
Ian Machado Garry sends Khamzat Chimaev a warning
Ian Machado Garry recently declared his desire to secure both the welterweight and middleweight UFC titles in the coming years.
But his title aspirations were met with a message from middleweight title contender Khamzat Chimaev, who took to X and wrote:
"You're too skinny kid, don't go near the wolf's teeth. You'll end up headless."
'The Future' was informed of the Chechen's post, and shared the following response during an interview with the UFC. A snippet of the interview was uploaded to X by @ChampRDS, where Garry said:
"Someone who, one day, I want to take his 0 too... Okay, well then when the time comes, be ready to back it up."
Catch Ian Machado Garry's warning to Khamzat Chimaev below: