Chael Sonnen praises Ilia Topuria's 'era ending' win over Max Holloway at UFC 308: "That would be akin to Alex Pereira"

Chael Sonnen claimed Ilia Topuria "ended an era" at UFC 308. Earlier this year, Topuria earned a featherweight title shot against Alexander Volkanovski. 'El Matador' started making massive promises about knocking out Volkanovski and anyone else in his path, but few people truly believed he would accomplish everything he predicted.

Topuria started with a second-round knockout against Topuria. On Saturday, October 26, the 27-year-old continued to shock the world by defending his 145-pound throne and becoming the first fighter to knock out Max Holloway.

Topuria's two-fight stretch featured wins against two of the best fighters in UFC featherweight history. Therefore, Chael Sonnen posted a video on Instagram and had this to say about Topuria potentially ending an era in the division:

"What Topuria just did is he ended an era. Topuria has put a bow on that era. Jon Anik said it right to Daniel Cormier. He said what Ilia Topuria has done for this division, the two greatest of all time, and he put them both to sleep, dominantly."

Sonnen continued:

"He said that would be akin to Alex Pereira knocking out Jon Jones and knocking out Daniel Cormier in the same year. He would have clearly established, and without question, there is a new sheriff in town. That's what Topuria did."

Watch Chael Sonnen explain how Ilia Topuria ended an era below:

---

Does Alexander Volkanovski deserve a rematch against Ilia Topuria?

Ilia Topuria has mentioned his interest in moving up to lightweight and potentially becoming a two-division world champion. However, Dana White believes Topuria has more work to do at 145 pounds before changing weight classes.

Alexander Volkanovski has called for a rematch against Topuria, and the latter isn't against the matchup. However, 'El Matador' wants their fight would have to be under his stipulations, especially regarding the venue and date.

Volkanovski hasn't fought since losing against Topuria, making it unclear if the UFC wants to give him a title shot. While, 'The Great' is arguably the greatest featherweight of all time and fought Topuria only four months after getting knocked out by Islam Makhachev, which could have affected his conditioning heading into the fight.

Number three-ranked UFC featherweight Diego Lopes could be one win away from a title shot, so Topuria vs. Volkanovski 2 makes sense for the first half of 2025.