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Chael Sonnen recently reflected on the prospects of Khamzat Chimaev taking on an up-and-coming undefeated UFC middleweight fighter, Bo Nickal.
During his appearance on the Good Guy/Bad Guy podcast, Daniel Cormier asked Sonnen about the fights he wanted to see in 2025. He quickly made a case for Chimaev vs. Nickal.
Both Chimaev and Nickal are known for their wrestling pedigree in the UFC and boast an undefeated record. 'Borz' is ranked No. 3 in the middleweight rankings, while Nickal is yet to be ranked.
Sonnen expressed his wish to expedite the process of a match-up between the two while downplaying the discrepancy in rankings as a roadblock. He said:
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"I've got to get Bo Nickal and Chimaev I can't keep these guys separated forever. You know we're told that we don't get to see this fight because of the discrepancy in the rankings. Now if Chimaev has put himself in a spot to go and fight for a title I'll keep the name out of my mouth but those two have been aligned from the jump street."
He continued:
"We just saw the Japanese fellow that was able to come in and fight for a title who had no ranking whatsoever that we don't have to adhere to the rankings as a way to avoid fights. Chimaev's undefeated, Bo's undefeated, Chimaev's good with the wrestling, Bo's good with the wrestling, Chimaev's got a bunch of fan that's up and coming as a future title contender, check and check for Bo. I don't know why are we keeping them apart when we got guys under contract make the fight."
Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below (2:58):
When Khamzat Chimaev reacted to Robert Whittaker's jaw after securing a win over him
Khamzat Chimaev recently took on Robert Whittaker at UFC 308. The bout was viewed as the first real test at middleweight for Chimaev. However, the fight ended swiftly when 'Borz' got the former champ's back and enforced a vicious face crank in the first round forcing him to submit.
A photo was later released showing Whittaker's injured teeth. Reacting to a question regarding the same in the post-fight media interaction, Chimaev said:
"I didn’t mean to break somebody’s chin, but this is my work you know. Make somebody pain."
