Former UFC light heavyweight and middleweight championship challenger, Chael Sonnen has voiced his displeasure and disappointment regarding current lightweight kingpin, Islam Makhachev’s successful title retention against Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 on Saturday, appearing to see the result for the Australian on home soil.
Headlining the Perth, Australia event from the RAC Arena, Makhachev, who is now slated to take featherweight champion, Volkanovski’s pound-for-pound number-one status, also handed the New South Wales native his first Octagon loss to boot.
Successfully defending his championship – which he clinched in a vacant title offing with Charles Oliveira back in October of last year, Makhachev secured a close, competitive unanimous decision (48-47, 48-47, 49-46) triumph over Volkanovski, notching his twelfth straight win to boot.
Chael Sonnen takes issue with Islam Makhachev’s win in enemy territory
Reacting live to Makhachev’s decision win over Volkanovski, the aforenoted Chael Sonnen’s initial reaction was that of a disappointed one.
“See, this is so – this is so disappointing,” Chael Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “They just made the announcement, they (the judges) gave it (the fight) to Islam (Makhachev). And, I of course am saying this with some tongue-in-cheek, but, not completely, right. There’s something in every industry known as an industry standard, so it’s not the rules of the industry – you’ll have unified rules, you’ll have these three judges… but you can also have an industry standard.”
“Whatever happened to the good old days, when you’d go on the road, the hometown guy wins,” Chael Sonnen explained. “You guys ever follow the Olympics?… The year 1996, it was on American soil – all the Americans won, at least proportionally. What about the last Olympics they were in Tokyo, and all of a sudden, there was a whole load of Japanese winners. That’s how you do it. You go the distance in a great fight like that… you have a sold-out arena cheering for Volkanovski – if you’re a judge with any level of industry standard… you rip Islam off, and you give it to Volkanovski. And I’m only partly kidding about that.”
UFC color-commentator, Joe Rogan, who was hosting a Fight Companion podcast episode during the vent, also voiced his displeasure with the result of Makhachev’s fight with Volkanovski.
“Oh my God, look at (Islam) Makahchev, he realises now,” Joe Rogan said. “He realises now, he just f*cking lost – 100 percent. Let’s hear it [the decision]. 48-47. Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God. We were just – we were convinced – we might have been biased. We might have to watch it. I don’t know, I don’t think so. Let’s see what the online people think, because in my eyes, I thought it was 3-2 (to Alexander Volkanovski). Oh my God. This sucks. Listen to the crowd.”