"Nobody's career has been more of a fine wine than that of Conor McGregor" - Chael Sonnen questions criticism of Islam Makhachev's opponents, compares it to the Irishman

Chael Sonnen compared Islam Makhachev to Conor McGregor to shut down arguments that the former is undeserving of a UFC title shot.

As far as Sonnen is concerned, Dana White took the same approach in building up Makhachev as he did with McGregor. With that in mind, Sonnen thinks it isn't a good idea to write off Makhachev as undeserving:

"There's only been a couple of guys... I could count them on one hand, easily, probably three fingers. But there are only a couple of guys where Dana White has ever come out and openly said, 'I'm gonna bring him up slow. I have a plan.' Dana said that about Conor McGregor."

The former three-time UFC title challenger added that Makhachev deserves the benefit of the doubt in terms of his level of competition. 'The Bad Guy' continued:

"Now, that happened. Conor was given some very easy fights – some very favorable fights, we thought. In hindsight, one of those easy fights was a young man from Louisiana named Dustin Poirier. Another one of those 'easy fights' for Conor McGregor was an undercard bout with a 20-year-old kid named Max Holloway. So nobody's career has gotten better in time, nobody's career has been more of a fine wine than that of Conor McGregor."

Catch Chael Sonnen's comments on Islam Makhachev below:

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Chael Sonnen: Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev will be 'battle between jiu-jitsu and sambo'

Chael Sonnen believes there's more to be excited for about the UFC 280 main event aside from the the championship implications.

One of the more interesting aspects of the upcoming pay-per-view, according to Sonnen, is that it will bring together two of the absolute best in the worlds of Brazilian jiu-jitsu and Sambo. Previewing Charles Oliveira vs. Islam Makhachev during an episode of Beyond the Fight, 'The American Gangster' said:

"This is a massive battle between jiu-jitsu and Sambo, and Sambo isn't coming out and trying to get credit ahead of time because their guy is a three to one dog, and jiu jitsu isn't even mentioning it because they're not sure that their guy's techniques work. You have two sides that are scared."

Watch the video below: