Chael Sonnen and Islam Makhachev have been beefing over what the analyst claims is a misunderstanding. It all started when, on an episode of the Good Guy/Bad Guy Show on YouTube, the American claimed that the champ moving up in weight is an act of cowardice.
His statement had Islam fans up in arms, and the champ himself was pretty disappointed. So much so that the usually calm Dagestani fighter took to Twitter to call ‘The American Gangster’ an ‘average‘ athlete who only made his way up by talking trash.
Needless to say, this bizarre controversy made headlines, and when Sonnen appeared on episode 33 of The Bohnfire, on YouTube, Mike Bohn had to ask him about this new ‘beef.’
Sonnen didn’t seem too concerned, though, and revealed how there was nothing to it but a little bit of fake news, a little more of a language barrier between both parties.
“I got misquoted by a pretty big site called MMA Uncensored, and then you got your language barriers and everything else. And before you know it, I called Islam a coward, he thought,” the former UFC middleweight title contender claimed.
He then went on to clarify that they squashed the beef and explained, “They say don’t ever get in the mud with a pig, because you both get dirty and the pig likes it. I am that pig….I like Islam, and it was based on a misunderstanding, so we got it worked out, he called, we spoke, we’re good.”
However, Sonnen had to make it clear that he isn’t one to back down from some trash-talking. In fact, before the two patched it up, he had issued a scathing response to Islam, bringing in both Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor into it.
Sonnen’s ‘ice-cold’ response to Makhachev
In a tweet, ‘The American Gangster‘ took on both Khabib and Conor, claiming that he was the OG trash-talker and a Guru for all those who followed.
“You won’t be the first guy from your gym who begged me for material…In fact, it wouldn’t be the first time YOUR guy and the OTHER [Irish] guy BOTH used material they begged me to give ’em to become interesting…” he said.
Chael Sonnen claps right back at Islam Makhachev pic.twitter.com/D0pXaggBvJ
— MMA Fighting (@MMAFighting) May 22, 2025
The ‘Bad Guy’ then sent a straight warning for Islam.
“So don’t be shy and don’t pick fake fights w/me to get my attention. Your HERO is my ACOLYTE. So is his NEMESIS. SO are YOU.” he asserted before deleting the tweets.
If what he says is true, the list probably wouldn’t end at Khabib and Conor, there are probably a lot more athletes who have reached out to him for ‘trash-talking’ material.
It will be interesting to see if McGregor has anything to say about these outlandish claims by the former middleweight contender. It should be noted that Sonnen was one of the first analysts to claim that McGregor was never going to return to fighting and was only keeping up appearances.
