But former UFC title contender and current MMA analyst Chael Sonnen isn’t thrilled with the idea and is suggesting Volkanovski relinquish his 145-pound belt and step into the lightweight mix.
Without a guaranteed title shot.
“Volkanovski just came up with one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard,” Sonnen continued his YouTube channel. “I challenge the notion that ‘I’m going to 155 to test myself to fight Gaethje.’ That’s a cop out. That’s a cop out by somebody. I don’t mean it’s conscious, I mean it’s subconscious. If you want to go to 155 and test yourself, drop your belt and go to the station; exactly what Ilia Topuria did. Now I understand that history tells you that Ilia stopped with a title shot. He wasn’t guaranteed a title shot when he moved up the division. If you want to challenge yourself, do what Max Holloway does: be a 45-pounder going into 55. Which means if I lose, I can’t say I lost to the top guy.
“When Volk went up (to fight Makhachov), he didn’t leave; he didn’t burn his boats. If he had burned his boats, he would have dropped the 45-pound belt,” Sonnen continued. “There’s no stopping you—there’s no anchor tied up your ass. You can do it right now. Right now. Make a public statement, that’s all you have to do to drop the belt. Tell the public you’re dropping the belt. It’s no different than when we put the belt on a guy at a press conference. That’s how it really works. You want to try the idea yourself? Do you like the idea? The same thing you’ve already won twice.