Chael Sonnen has his ideas and thoughts on who is the best in UFC right now, and it is not Alex Pereira, Islam Makahchev, Belal Muhammad, or even Conor McGregor. It is none other than Sean O’Malley Sonnen who is hell-bent on praising ‘Suga’ and did the same during UFC 292 Q and A as well. The bantamweight champ is fighting at UFC Noche, and ahead of that, there is a clip doing the rounds of Instagram right now.

In this video, Sonnen talks about the bantamweight star and declares him to be the best in UFC. He said, “O’Malley is the biggest star in our sport right now. Conor’s not in the sport; he’s not even licensed. Sean O’Malley is gonna have a very hard time ever looking better than he did at UFC 299. That Sean O’Malley Chito Vera had to deal with can beat anybody. But can you duplicate it? A lot of people thought no. A lot of people thought he was having a good night.”

He further stated that ‘Suga’ fights well when he is under pressure and thrives in stressful fights. He explained, “But that night a line came out, and it had Merab as a 2-1 favorite over O’Malley. Even if he wins, he draws into a guy with a similar disastrous style. That’s a lot for a young man to take on. But that seems to be where O’Malley does his best work when that house is on fire.” Sonnen even interjected Daniel Cormier previously when the latter supported Alex Pereira. Sonnen declared that Pereira was not as good as ‘Suga’ and was skeptical of ‘Poatan’s’ claim to be the face of UFC.

McGregor has long been de facto the best in MMA; however, he has been on hiatus for a long time now. He was supposed to compete at UFC 303 but hurt his toe on the same leg that needed surgery after Dustin Poirier’s fight. Sonnen brought in ‘Suga’ in the context of the bantamweight champion, who is dealing with increased media scrutiny ahead of his defense against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 306. He was worried that O’Malley would be thrown off by his opponent’s unorthodox approach. In the meantime, fans are completely in disagreement with the former UFC star.

Fans reproach Chael Sonnen’s comment

As soon as the video dropped, fans immediately showed their support for ‘Poatan’ and refuted Sonnen’s claims. One fan said, “At times I believe Chael just says stuff he doesn’t believe either but needs to push out there so casuals might buy into it.” Another UFC fan wrote, “I don’t think Michael has seen all the tickets left for Sean’s upcoming fight to be saying “he’s the biggest star”.”

Sonnen also tore into McGregor, insinuating that O’Malley was bringing more eyes and PPV and that ‘Mystic Mac’ was out of the game for a long time. He also had previously been on the same stance that Pereira was not as good as Suga. Alex Pereira’s journey to the UFC was not typical. He was a kickboxing champ in GLORY before his MMA debut. However, he secured a win in his first UFC fight with a KO and has also conquered two weight divisions. Meanwhile, heavyweight might be his new goal. However, Sonnen does not agree. On that note, fans said, “Man uncle chews has been having constant Ls lately. He’s lucky he’s undefeated and undisputed.” While another retorted, “I feel like he hates Alex Periera.” One fan chimed in, “Alex is a bigger star than Sean.”

A netizen refuted Sonnen’s claims that O’Malley was better and said, “Alex Pereira is bigger than him.” However, comments supporting Suga, saying, “Watched him at 299 and finally realized that he wasn’t just a Rodman-esque clown, but was really good.”

Alex Pereira has carved his own path by wiping any prospects in the middleweight and light heavyweight divisions. He now has his eye on the heavyweight category, but Dana White is apparently not sold on the idea. However, Jon Jones was sold on the idea of Poatan moving to HW, and he said it could draw a huge PPV. Do you think the same? Tell us in the comments below.