Dricus Du Plessis was expected to defend his middleweight crown against Khamzat Chimaev during International Fight Week—at least, that’s what fans believed. But as always, the fight gods had other plans. According to veteran reporter Kevin Iole, ‘Stillknocks’ has suffered an injury ahead of his rumored UFC 317 title defense, paving the way for Caio Borralho to step in and face Chimaev for interim gold. A bold move by the UFC—but is it the right one? Legends like Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen certainly have their doubts.

Daniel Cormier expressed dissatisfaction with the rumoured clash between Caio Borralho and Khamzat Chimaev for the interim middleweight belt during his conversation with his fans on his YouTube channel. Why is that? According to the former dual-weight champion, neither Chimaev nor Borralho deserves to fight for the interim belt; instead, Nassourdine Imavov should be competing for it.

“What about Imavov? I would love to see Caio Borralho fight Khamzat Chimaev. I think it would be fun, not for an interim title, but I think it would be fun. But then, what does it do for Imavov, who’s rolling right now? He’s on fire and deserves the opportunity to fight one of those guys.”, Cormier said.

He further added, “Everything was so clean at 185. This injury mucks it up a little because the champion is now not available to the division. What does it do for him? If I’m Imavov, I’m saying, ‘Listen, I want to be involved. This trifecta becomes a foursome because I need to be involved. I don’t care what you’re doing, whatever you’re doing needs to involve me because I have earned that.'”

Khamzat Chimaev and Caio Borralho have delivered some amazing performances to earn a shot at the title, but the rankings tell a different story. As of April, Nassourdine Imavov sits at the top of the division, while Chimaev is ranked 4th and Borralho 6th. For Cormier, this doesn’t just sit right because Imavov just knocked out Israel Adesanya in his last endeavor. Compared to Imavov, neither Chimaev nor Borralho has finished someone like Adesanya.

Khamzat Chimaev is coming off a submission victory over Robert Whittaker; however, it’s worth noting that the Chechen has only fought twice in the middleweight division and has yet to fully prove his mettle. As for Caio Borralho, his best win is against Jared Cannonier, which makes the interim title shot seem a bit questionable. Well, Cormier is not the only one who has challenged the rumored Chimaev vs. Borralho fight.

Chael Sonnen rejects Khamzat Chimaev’s title shot opportunity

The rumored fight is yet to be confirmed by the UFC, but many within the MMA community believe that Chimaev vs. Borralho is the only fight that the UFC wants right now, considering the International Fight Week is in doldrums. If this rumour stands true, then nothing can stop Khamzat Chimaev from fighting for the title, but wait, does he truly deserve this? According to Chael Sonnen, the middleweight equation will be much more confusing if the UFC gives a title shot to Chimaev.

In his latest YouTube video, Sonnen argues, “Number three. That does confuse things, and that confuses things very much. Dricus Du Plessis is reported to be out of a fight with Chimaev. I can get in front of that and tell you that’s garbage. Dricus never had a fight with Chimaev; therefore, it is not possible to pull out of the fight. But they were trending in that direction.”

He further added, “It makes it kind of hard to tell me why he’s fighting for the undisputed belt. Now, we all know that Chimaev should be. We all know Chimaev is the great threat. It is stunning to me that he’s not ranked number one. I absolutely would not have believed that. But now that I know that he’s not, why are we assuming that he would fight for an interim belt?”, ‘The American Gangster’ continued.

Quite a bold statement from Chael Sonnen, but his observation stands right. The UFC is yet to announce their fight, let alone an interim middleweight title fight. The UFC CEO has promised Chimaev a title fight—but the question is, will it be for an interim title? Given the situation, what are your thoughts on the fight? State your opinion in the comments below.