Retired UFC middleweight and current commentator Chael Sonnen has a unique take on Colby Covington’s future career. With a victory over Jorge Masvidal under his belt, and no clear path to a victory over welterweight champ Kamaru Usman, Sonnen wants to see Colby move up a division. Who does that benefit the most?
Undefeated middleweight champ Israel Adesanya. Speaking on his ESPN+ show, Sonnen explained his logic. No middleweight contender is selling their fights enough to make Israel Adesanya
Chael Sonnen: “Nobody needs Colby as bad as Izzy Adesanya”
“I think he needs to go up to 185. Look, Colby has called out three guys in the last two weeks: He, of course, called out Kamaru Usman; he called out Israel Adesanya; and he called out Dustin Poirier.
Now you’ve got to understand, the one thing those three guys have in common is they all have world championship belts somewhere on the mantle at home. These are hard callouts by ‘Chaos,’ but ‘Chaos,’ who’s obviously a No. 1 contender, does not get a fight for a championship. It’s a tough spot.
So he’s saying, ‘Look, I’m even willing to leave the division. Let me take this golden ticket of No. 1 contender and let me cash it in at 185 pounds.’
And quite frankly, nobody needs Colby as bad as Izzy Adesanya. I don’t know if Israel is aware of that yet, but he’s starting to fight people that aren’t doing their job in the media, that aren’t bringing the attention, that aren’t helping the brand and making the marquee fight as big as it could be.
I think if Izzy stood back and saw what Colby has to offer, that’s gonna be a partner that he would like to do business with.”
Chael Sonnen went as far as pointing out that he did the same thing for a hero of Adesanya’s: Anderson Silva. Chael Sonnen’s run at Silva sealed his reputation as one of the greatest fighters never to seal a title. Is he saying the same thing of Colby Covington?
“I’ll insert myself into this: There was once a fighter named Anderson Silva, and everybody knew how great he was but Anderson had a hard time drawing attention, but only because people thought they knew how the movie was going to end.
He finally got a counterpart that captivated the imagination of the world to think, ‘Wait a minute, this guy could actually beat him.’ I think that Izzy is that good. I think that Izzy needs that.”
Do you think Izzy needs Colby? Let us know in the comments.
