Despite every MMA expert and their moms agreeing that Bo Nickal is not ready for Khamzat Chimaev. UFC veteran Chael Sonnen seems to be pushing for the matchup. After seeing Kai Asakura land a title shot in the flyweight division on his debut, Sonnen feels it’s time for some major shakeups in the rankings. If Asakura can skip the line, why not put two of the most promising fighters in the middleweight division, Nickal and Chimaev, head-to-head?
The former UFC fighter has been asking for this matchup for a long time. In an interview with Helen Yee, he claimed that since the rankings don’t matter anymore, anything goes.
“I want to see Chimaev vs. Bo Nickal but we don’t get to see it because Bo is not ranked….Asakura is not ranked at all…He is not ranked….So if we can all agree to follow the rules that we make up as we go, rankings don’t matter.”
However, Sonnen fails to acknowledge a key difference in these situations. Asakura’s title shot came about because there was a lack of top contenders for reigning flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja. In other words, the division was in a bit of limbo, and Asakura just happened to be the next option.
The middleweight division, on the other hand, is stacked with talent, and Chimaev is quite possibly the next in line for the title and Nickal has no shortage of fighters to take on.
But it seems logic takes a backseat here since Sonnen just doesn’t rate Asakura as a good fighter.
Sonnen predicts Asakura vs. Pantoja
The ‘Bad Guy’ predicted a lot of pressure on the Japanese fighter and claimed this could cause his adrenaline to spike, which would result in him fatiguing early. However, he did express respect for Asakura’s courage in stepping up for such a massive fight.
That respect was short-lived of course, because the next thing Helen Yee asked him was about Asakura’s chances against Pantoja,
“No, oh no he’s got no chance, he’s a bum.”
Chael Sonnen just gave the most inspirational speech to Kai Asakura just to end it like this #UFC310 #ufc #mma
via Helen Yee Sports pic.twitter.com/ajPxXQj96K
— Headclash MMA (@HeadclashMMA) December 6, 2024
Well, we will just have to wait and see how it pans out. Pantoja is one of the best UFC flyweight champions in recent memory, with wins over the likes of Brandon Moreno, Brandon Royval, and Steve Erceg. He’s a veteran of the sport on a 6 fight win streak. So Sonnen isn’t wrong there. This is a championship fighter who wins his fights with almost clinical precision.
Asakura, on the other hand, is not spring chicken either. He’s a former RIZIN champion and is a very unpredictable fighter, which makes this a far more interesting fight than Sonnen is giving it credit for.
