Chael Sonnen shares honest take on potential Islam Makhachev vs. Ilia Topuria fight timing, explains intriguing Paddy Pimblett factor

Chael Sonnen believes the UFC may have seemingly missed the mark for booking a fight between Islam Makhachev and Ilia Topuria. The former featherweight champion was on a tear after dismantling Alexander Volkanovski and defending the title against Max Holloway.

A jump to the lightweight division and an immediate callout for a fight against Makhachev felt like a golden opportunity. However, Makhachev's camp dismissed the idea with the belief that Topuria hasn't earned the title shot yet.

Meanwhile, Paddy Pimblett stormed into relevance with an emphatic TKO win over Michael Chandler at UFC 314. Suddenly, Pimblett has entered the mix of title contention, and Javier Mendez, Makhachev's coach, believes that the UK MMA star deserves a title shot.

Topuria, on the other hand, also spoke about a matchup against Pimblett in a recent appearance on The Joe Rogan Experience. He claimed that he wants to fight Pimblett at Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Spain.

Sonnen spoke about the shift during a recent episode of ESPN MMA's Good Guy/ Bad Guy, stating:

"Topuria is doing all the right things by aligning himself. If he's looking for something that people want to see, he's found that in Paddy Pimblett. That really would make things a lot bigger."

He added:

"If the UFC was gonna match up champion vs. champion, they would have made that match when it was champion vs. champion. To wait till one of them is no longer a champion and then reemerge with the same idea, that would be a little bit weird."

Check out Chael Sonnen's comments below:

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UFC lightweight contender raises doubts about Ilia Topuria’s size in potential Islam Makhachev fight

Despite being undefeated and fresh off his featherweight title run, Ilia Topuria’s move to lightweight is drawing some skepticism. He’s made it clear he won’t fight anyone but the champion, Islam Makhachev.

However, Mateusz Gamrot does not see a clear path to victory for the former featherweight king if he jumps straight into a title shot with Makhachev. Gamrot believes that going from 145 to facing the pound-for-pound best at 155 is a stretch too far. Speaking in an interview with MMA Junkie, Gamrot said:

“For me, interesting fight but I don’t know. Topuria is a small guy. Islam is a really big guy and I don’t think that Topuria has a chance against him, you know. If you want to fight with Islam, you have to be a big guy, similar like him, because he’s good everywhere but if your body is smaller than his, you don’t have a chance for sure.”

Check out Mateusz Gamrot's comments below (6:15):