The much anticipated UFC 300 is just around the corner, and the fans are waiting desperately to witness the event. With the card loaded with some extraordinary fights, one match has gathered a lot of attention: Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway. The BMF title will be on the line as two of the hardest punchers in the featherweight and lightweight divisions take on each other. But is the title the only thing on the line?

Chael Sonnen recently took to his YouTube channel to analyze the co-main event of UFC 300. The 46-year-old pointed out the biggest strength of Gaethje, which might affect the fight. Let us find out what the former UFC fighter had to say.

Chael Sonnen feels Justin Gaethje is one of the hardest punchers in the game

Justin Gaethje was last seen inside the Octagon at UFC 291 when he took on Dustin Poirier. The 35-year-old won the fight via knockout in the second round, thus extending his career record to 25-4-0. During a recent YouTube video, Chael Sonnen shared how deadly ‘ The Human Highlight’ truly is. The 46-year-old also shared concerns that Max Holloway could be a changed man after this fight.

Speaking of watching Gaethje during his WSOF (now PFL) days, Sonnen said, “Justin Gaethje was as good and fun and durable and reliable and exciting then as he is now… I would sit there cage-side calling his fight, right?… Calling the fight is how close I am to the action… I can tell you the sound of the thud when Justin Gaethje would touch you. And it didn’t matter if it was the leg or it was with the hands. You could hear it.”

Sonnen then recounted a story he heard from AKA alumnus and former Strikeforce lightweight champion and UFC veteran Josh Thomson. The relevance? Khabib Nurmagomedov trained in the same gym and he fought Gaethje in his retirement bout. Apparently, ‘The Eagle’ confessed to Thomson that no one has hit him harder than Gaethje. This claim from Sonnen holds merit since the Dagestani has publicly stated that Gaethje ‘hits like a truck’ when asked about the hardest punchers he has faced.

Sonnen said, “Josh explained to me the way that Khabib explained it to him. I am attempting to explain it to you that I knew what he meant. I knew exactly what he meant. And when Henry [Cejudo] is saying that Dana [White] should stop it, that Max’s life will be different…”

Sonnen also supported his argument, saying that Henry Cejudo has enough experience as someone who has been a champion and has coached champions to know that Holloway might be biting off more than he can chew. The three-time UFC title challenger further stated in the video how Dustin Poirier was able to throw Holloway off his rhythm during their interim lightweight title bout back in 2019 (interestingly, also on April 13). All these claims point to the many doubts Max Holloway will have to answer on April 13, 2024. But there is one more complaint about this matchup about a rather overlooked aspect of it.

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‘The Eagle’ isn’t quite impressed with the lightweight matchup

Khabib Nurmagomedov retired from the sport at his peak, holding a perfect record of 29-0 in his career. Nurmagomedov then shifted his focus to coaching and took the current lightweight champion, Islam Makhachev under his wings. The former lightweight champion has now completely divorced himself from the sport to focus on his family. However, he did share his thoughts on the upcoming fights at UFC 300 and it seems he had some better ideas.

The 35-year-old, while speaking to Mike Bohn, said, “All respect for Max Holloway but I don’t know and I don’t understand why UFC made this fight, Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway. Don’t make sense, it’s my opinion. My opinion, Holloway is supposed to fight Topuria next, maybe [in] September”.

He further added, “Justin Gaethje is supposed to fight with Islam, May-June, and Tsarukyan vs. Oliveira; they fight April, who[ever] wins vs [the winner of] Islam-Gaethje they supposed to fight end of the year in Abu Dhabi. This, I think, makes more sense. Now Topuria, he’ll fight with who if Holloway loses? I don’t understand, no make sense. Why they give Islam Justin Gaethje? Why they make him fight vs. Holloway?” Did the UFC make a mistake in setting up a fight between Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway? Let us know in the comments below.

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