"You are not being forced" - Chael Sonnen doubles down on Dana White's message to Merab Dvalishvili for Aljamain Sterling fight

UFC bantamweight contender Merab Dvalishvili is only second in the division to Aljamain Sterling, the former title holder. Both bantamweights are teammates and good friends, who have refused to fight each other despite being the top two in the division for a long time.

The two teammates' plans were thrown into disarray when Sean O'Malley knocked out Sterling at UFC 292 and foiled his plans to move up to featherweight after one last title defense. In a recent press conference, UFC president Dana White, addressed the situation.

Former UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen doubled down on White's comments in a video uploaded to his YouTube channel.

“You’re not being forced or even asked to face Sterling, which to my understanding was the agreement," said Sonnen. "And when Dana spoke about this, he did ask you a very strong and direct question. You’re gonna have to ask yourself. But the question was, if you don’t want the title, if you don’t want the main event, if you don’t want the points, the belt and the biggest opportunity we have to offer, why did you get into this in the first place?"

Chael Sonnen asked Merab Dvalishvili to reflect on the question, and added:

"And that’s tough, that’s a tough question, right? That’s gonna provoke a tough response and it was the right question that Dana asked. And that response, as tough as it is, it’s very important that you have. I don’t mean for people like me, I just mean internally.”

Check out Sonnen's full comments on YouTube [8:41]:

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What did Dana White say to Merab Dvalishvili?

UFC President Dana White was extremely unhappy with Merab Dvalishvili's stance on facing Aljamain Sterling.

Dvalishvili's willingness to wait out his turn till Aljamain Sterling potentially regains and then vacates the title was called out by White in a press conference after DWCS 60.

Dana White stated that he hated the attitude and then proceeded to question Merab Dvalishvili and answer with the purpose of the combat sports business.

"Why did you even get into this sport if that's your mentality and the way that you think?" said White. "This is not about friendship, this is about finding out who the best in the world is and if you don't want to find out who the best in the world is, this is not the place for you. You should be somewhere else, there's plenty of places to fight where they don't give a s**t what you do."

Check out his comments below: