Chael Sonnen perplexed by Magomed Ankalaev vs. Alex Pereira 2: 'Nobody asked for this'
"Nobody asked for this rematch," Sonnen told MMA Junkie. "You didn't ask for it. I didn't ask for it. You couldn't go to Twitter, you couldn't go to Google, you couldn't even get Grok to show you a person that asked for this rematch. (Dana White) said, 'Listen, it's the best against the best. This is what we do here, and therefore it's this fight.'"
Ankalaev (21-1-1 MMA, 12-1-1 UFC) defeated Pereira (12-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 313 in March to claim the 205-pound belt. Prior to that, "Poatan" had recorded three consecutive defenses of the belt in record-setting fashion against Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka and Khalil Rountree Jr.
With Pereira displeased with his performance in the initial meeting, Ankalaev keen to do it again and the weight class baron of a better contender, the promotion put together an immediate rematch. The fight headlines UFC 320 on Oct. 4 at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN, ESPN+).
Three-time UFC title challenger and longtime ESPN analyst Sonnen isn't thrilled about seeing a sequel. He said he would've far preferred Pereira move to heavyweight, where he could get fresh fights against more interesting opponents.
"I still wish that he would become a heavyweight," Sonnen said. "There's not another fight at 205 that I want to see for him. He definitely wants to be a heavyweight, and he's even telling that story on his own Instagram where he's putting out pictures on the scale, and he's 246. He's putting out the message to the audience, 'I'm big enough to this, this is what I want to do.' But why do we have to get him beat twice?
"If he gets beat (at UFC 320) and he becomes a heavyweight, aren't we in that spot right now? And we were just looking for a fight for Tom Aspinall. Then we went to Ciryl (Gane), which is another fight nobody asked for. I really did think Alex was going to get announced against Tom, just in the absence of, 'What are we going to do? Let's shake it up a little bit.'"
Sonnen said the MMA world needs to "be prepared for if Alex loses" at UFC 320. The Brazilian would be sitting on a two-fight losing skid and in a far different spot than one year prior, when he had completed arguably one of the greatest runs in UFC history.
Although Sonnen thinks "not a lot" negative would happen to Pereira's star power with a loss, it ultimately depends on how it happens in the cage. Even if he regains gold, though, Sonnen said the problematic scenarios don't stop at light heavyweight.
"Why are we doing this? I don't know what Ankalaev gets if he wins," Sonnen said. "He already beat him. Nobody asked for this rematch, including Pereira. Ankalaev asked for it. It was a little bit odd. Ankalaev actually got a little bit nasty like, 'Come fight me.' He just did. What is it what you're planning? You're bringing the belt this time. It really was a bit of a confusing situation.
"If Pereira wins, the right thing to do would be to go to a trilogy. So now you're telling me you've not only got to see him fight Ankalaev again, which we didn't want the first time. We didn't ask for it this (second) time. Now you're telling me we might have to see it for 10 more rounds? I think it creates more problems than it solves. That's what I think."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Chael Sonnen: 'Nobody asked for' Ankalaev vs. Pereira at UFC 320
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