Islam Makhachev snatched the UFC lightweight title from Charles Oliveira via submission, at UFC 280. Without a doubt, the event raised the spirits of the mixed martial arts world while shocking them at the same time. Thereafter, Makhachev defeated pound-for-pound king Alexander Volkanovski in his first-ever title defense. The Dagestani fighter displayed his dominance on the Octagon ever since.

Oliveira and Beneil Dariush are now set to fight each other in the co-main event of UFC 289. As the date of the fight etches closer, the entropy in the world of MMA keeps skyrocketing. Makhachev himself declared his desire to fight Dariush long before his fight. The former fighter and friend to Khabib Nurmagomedov, Chael Sonnen, recently revealed a few thoughts on Makhachev before the showdown between Dariush and Oliveira. He claimed that the lightweight champion has taken the spot from $200 million dollars worth Conor McGregor after winning five of the top bouts in UFC history. He seemed to believe that Makhachev has earned more than McGregor with his top five fights.

Chael Sonnen thinks Islam Makhachev has risen above Conor McGregor

In the recent episode of Bad Guy Inc, Sonnen tackled the talks about McGregor fighting Michael Chandler. Thereafter, he went on and addressed the upcoming fight between Oliveira and Dariush, and ultimately stumbled upon Makhachev. 

Sonnen believed that Makhachev had showcased phenomenal prowess inside the Octagon. He also believed that the Dagestani fighter had dethroned McGregor and taken his place. “Well, if Islam, in fact, just did a top five in history piece of business, that means he took a spot from Conor McGregor, which in theory would mean he’s bigger than Conor, right now. How do you like that? You just can’t deny that he could go out there and draw. So now does it really matter who you put him in there with?” said Sonnen.

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He further added that Makhachev’s fight with Oliveira and Volkanovski were both great nights for the business. Sonnen claimed that the rising star’s stardom was going to shadow that of ‘The Notorious’. He said, “I mean, apparently Oliveira was a good night of business, but now we know that Volkanovski was a good night of business. Somewhere you got two nights of business and the same guy wins. The way the algorithm works is it’s just Islam. Not to mention everybody else got to fight, but Islam. He was put on reserve.”

What do you think about Sonnen’s claims? Has Islam risen above McGregor in his UFC career? Let us know in the comments down below.

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