Dana White’s New Weight Class Rumored for Conor McGregor, Michael Chandler at 165 lbs, Shot Down by MMA Veteran

Recently, Daniel Cormier talked about the possibility of Dana White introducing a new weight class, which could involve Conor McGregor. He believes that the Irishman was the frontrunner to fight for a 165-pound title. Meanwhile, MMA veteran Chael Sonnen weighed in on that topic and appeared to be critical of the idea of that division ever coming into existence.

Conor McGregor has been teasing a UFC return and has set his sights on the middleweight division. Furthermore, he has maintained his stance on a 185-pound comeback ever since he mentioned that to Michael Chandler in the first episode of ‘The Ultimate Fighter 31’. There are even rumors of him possibly fighting Nate Diaz instead of ‘Iron’. However, Chael Sonnen thinks otherwise. Let’s see what he had to say.

Dana White is not going to create a new division

In a recent YouTube video, Chael Sonnen mentioned how there have been talks about the 165-pound division. He believes the idea behind this division is to bring contenders from the lightweight and the welterweight divisions to fight at a middle ground. Sonnen stated, “So you talk about taking 70′ pounders and you’re taking 55′ pounders. That’s what you’re talking about doing.”

Meanwhile, he mentioned how fighters from different weight classes cannot fight in the UFC. Sonnen has a point since Dana White has openly mentioned his dislike for catchweight bouts before. ‘The American Gangster’ claims that the situation is similar to the idea of the 165-pound division and hence unlikely to come to fruition ever in the UFC.

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“What if we don’t create the weight class and just take… Leon vs Islam? Could we do that at 299 or 301? Would that feel different? Would that sell out faster?… I don’t believe so. Not only that, you’d be surprised if it was a main event,” Chael Sonnen added. He further went on to explain the problem of creating such a division.

A 165-pound division may not be good in the long run

Chael Sonnen mentioned that several fighters have expressed their wish to fight in a 165-pound division. These include Ben Askren, Jorge Masvidal, Nate Diaz, Dustin Poirier, Michael Chandler and even Tony Ferguson.

“When people say we’ve got these great fighters. We’ve got Ben Askren, we’ve got to get them in there with Jorge Masvidal. And we got Dustin Poirier saying that he would come up and Michael Chandler showing an interest, and Tony Ferguson said it’s where he wants to be and Nate Diaz wants you to create a title. When you have that, those are some really talented guys,” said Chael Sonnen.

‘The American Gangster’ also understands that the aforementioned fighters have the ability to draw a lot of people and make a lot of money, which they have done for Dana White in the past. However, he does not think that it will work for the 54-year-old promoter as a long-term plan. Rather, Chael Sonnen claims that the UFC CEO could consider keeping these fighters back to fight at 155 or 170 pounds.

“Those [fighters] are going to do some really big box offices. But how do you imagine it’s going to do more of a box office down the road or how do you imagine we can’t get those guys together right now or do it at 55′ or 70′? It just demonstrates a short-mindedness,” Sonnen added.

The UFC has surprised fans with many decisions in the past. Firstly, there is the BMF title, which fans still don’t know where the holder of it stands in the rankings or the title scene. And now, the topic of the 165-pound division is also making rounds across the MMA community. It remains to be seen what Dana White decides to do in the months to come.

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