Khamzat Chimaev became closest thing to 'Cowboy' Cerrone 2.0 - Chael Sonnen analyzes if 'Borz' deserves to cash in "golden ticket" of Nate Diaz victory for middleweight title shot 

Chael Sonnen is intrigued by the possibility of Khamzat Chimaev challenging for the UFC middleweight title if he beats Nate Diaz at UFC 279.

The idea was brought to light by Henry Cejudo on his YouTube channel. According to 'Triple C', Chimaev's best move would be to go up to middleweight instead of waiting for the winner of the Leon Edwards vs. Kamaru Usman trilogy.

While Sonnen is unsure if doing so would be an unfair practice, he does think that it's something that the UFC should at least entertain. During an episode of his Beyond the Fight YouTube show, Sonnen said:

"Chimaev became the closest thing to 'Cowboy' Cerrone 2.0 in terms of schedule. That got taken away, I wish that it hadn't. I love the idea of putting him out there. I love that they're bouncing around weight classes. I get, for professionalism, and I get that for sustainability, people do need to be treated levelly the same. You can't just have this one guy bouncing around."

Sonnen added that he's also keen to see if the UFC could implement a "golden ticket" system in which fighters can earn title shots in a division different from the one they fight in:

"It's an interesting spot, it's an interesting proposition. I'm interested in what Henry is saying, not only for this one situation, [but] as an overall policy. If a guy tries to have a golden ticket and cash it in somewhere, can he do it?"

Watch the full video below:

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Henry Cejudo explains why Khamzat Chimaev should move to middleweight

Henry Cejudo believes Khamzat Chimaev will be better off chasing the middleweight title.

The way 'Triple C' sees it, there's a log jam in the welterweight division that needs to be resolved before Chimaev can enter the title picture. Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman are expected to run it back after 'Rocky' pulled off a massive upset at UFC 278.

With that in mind, Cejudo pointed out that Chimaev could make a strong case to challenge the winner of Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira:

"If I was Khamzat Chimaev, I would go up. Because these guys [Usman and Edwards] aren’t gonna fight until February. I think Khamzat beats him [Diaz]. I think he challenges the winner of Israel and Pereira, and I think if he decides he wants to come back down, he should come back down."

Watch the video below: