UFC News: Chael Sonnen is 'proud' of Justin Gaethje for 'brilliant move' of matching Islam Makhachev with Beneil Dariush

Former UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen weighed in on Justin Gaethje's intelligent tactics in matching Islam Makhachev with Beneil Dariush while 'The Highlight' himself waits to get the next title shot.

He said:

"You can do what [Justin] Gaethje did which is to match Islam [Makhachev] up with Beneil Dariush. It's so brilliant! I'm so proud of him right now! This was such a good move. He did an interview, he said he's going to go on and fight the winter. He cut a promo on Poirier, now Gaethje's got a hint, just bet on who he thinks is going to win and then he's got to go build interest in that fight. It's a risk but it's the only way that can be done."

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Justin Gaethje, who recently fought Michael Chandler in a three round slugfest, recently appeared in UFC Unfiltered Episode No. 546, where he claimed that he deserves the next shot at the UFC lightweight championship.

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'The Highlight' also played matchmaker for Islam Makhachev and stated that the Dagestani should face top five lightweight Beneil Dariush to solidify his claim as a title contender.

He said:

“Do your f**king job, fight these guys, and Beneil Dariush is right here. And I like the dude, he’s my friend so you know I’m just going to jump over this man and expect to get a title shot when the No. 3 guy is Beneil Dariush. Handle that. That has to be handled.”

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Islam Makhachev turns his attention towards Justin Gaethje; says "so we'll go to war"

While there is an ongoing debate among the MMA community about who deserves to be the next UFC lightweight title challenger, Islam Makhachev took a different route. The Russian wrestler challenged Justin Gaethje to settle the debate once and for all.

In a tweet after Gaethje's comments about him not deserving of a championship bout, Islam Makhchev uploaded a picture of himself with Justin Gaethje, saying: