UFC veteran Chael Sonnen weighs in on who the top contender is for Ilia Topuria‘s Lightweight title, as the number one contender remains unclear in the competitive landscape of the lightweight division.
“Justin Gaethje, Arman Tsarukyan, and Paddy the Baddy. What do they all have in common? Well, a couple things. They all would like to fight Ilia for the world championship. They all would fight Islam. They would all fight Charles Oliveira. They’d all fight for the vacant belt. They don’t have any beef with anybody at the top, whether that was Islam or currently is Ilia. Not relevant to the story. They want to fight for the belt.”
“Justin Gaethje has laid his case out to the point that he’s sticking—he’s digging in. The right answer for what should we do at 155 pounds, for any question, the opening night, it’s this one dude’s debut—hey, it’s his retirement—hey, this guy’s the greatest fighter ever—hey, this is a world title fight—hey, this is a number one contender—we’re in a bind, it’s last minute. What should we do? The right answer to any question at 155 pounds is Justin Gaethje. If you say that answer every single time, you will never get laughed at. You will never look bad. You won’t even be wrong.”
“I do know who it should be: Arman Tsarukyan. I do know why it’s not Arman Tsarukyan. And so do you. Something happened. Arman had the match—the day of weigh-ins, something happened. We’ve never completely been told what that was. But the scheduled, offered, planned match did not go forward. That’s when Mooney Munoz stepped in. And that puts, like, a weird—not quite punishment, but punishment-like—veil over Arman.”
With Ilia Topuria carrying an aura of invincibility that we haven’t seen since Conor McGregor in his prime, with the three options all being enticing to fans, but the “bad guy” is correct in choosing Arman Tsarukyan.
Regardless of who he faces, Ilia Topuria will still be the favorite.
Ilia Topuria’s incredible rise in the UFC at a young age is a feat that will be recorded in the history books of MMA. He still has so much time to make an even bigger legacy than he already has. And regardless of whoever he faces, the world will be patiently waiting for the young Spanish Georgian legend’s next move.
