The UFC’s light heavyweight division has been unpredictable as of late after two big matchups were put together that left some questions.
Magomed Ankalaev has been pushing to face champion Alex Pereira for a long time now, but in order to get his second shot at the title, he will need to get past Aleksandar Rakić at UFC 308.
Meanwhile, Khalil Rountree will leapfrog both him and the majority of the top 10 to face “Poatan” at UFC 307 in an exciting clash of styles that plenty have suggested is premature.
Many will be expecting Ankalaev to come through yet another light heavyweight contender and continue to call for his shot, but Chael Sonnen believes some may be getting carried away…
Sonnen Warns Fans Not To Underestimate Rakić’s Chances Against Ankalaev
During a recent YouTube video, Sonnen spoke about what appears to be a number one contenders’ clash at 205 pounds that is set for October 26.
Not only were fans surprised to see Ankalaev not securing his date with the champion, many were puzzled by the decision to book him against Rakić. Whilst he is a top five contender in the division, he’s coming off of a loss in another title eliminator when he was stopped by Jiří Procházka at UFC 300.
Sonnen stated that although this could be the final hurdle for Ankalaev to overcome, it can’t be overlooked how big of an opportunity this is for his opponent.
“Ankalaev, clearly the number one contender, at least according to you guys. And you know what? I do have a little bit of a problem with that. I’s not a huge problem but I do have just a little one,” Sonnen said. “Which is Rakić is that damn good. You got to understand, Rakić did not get a world title fight — well neither did Ankalaev, but Rakić did find himself in the next best thing.
“He’s in a number one contenders’ match. That is quite literally the next best thing that you could get to a title fight and he found himself there coming off of a loss. As a matter of fact, he found himself there coming off of a stoppage loss. As a matter of fact, finding himself in this spot actually moves him in front of the guy that he suffered the loss to in Procházka,” Sonnen continued. “I’m only telling you this because that’s how good Rakić is and a lot of people have forgot.”
