Chael Sonnen recently shared his thoughts on the upcoming Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan lightweight match at UFC 300. This comes after Islam Makhachev defeated Oliveira via a second-round submission at UFC 280 for the vacant lightweight championship. Oliveira later secured a rematch against the lightweight champion by redeeming his loss with a knockout victory over Beneil Dariush at UFC 289.
While many expected Oliveira and Makhachev to face off at UFC 294 in October, Oliveira was forced to withdraw due to an injury sustained in training. Despite this, a showdown between the two seemed imminent. However, UFC President Dana White surprised everyone by announcing that Oliveira would face Arman Tsarukyan in a title eliminator at UFC 300 in April.
Sonnen wasn’t shocked by this news. In a YouTube video, the former UFC fighter suggested that Oliveira never wanted to fight Makhachev and even questioned the legitimacy of the Brazilian’s injury. Sonnen explained, “He doesn’t want to fight Islam to a degree that he’s refused to fight Islam… The first fight was offered to Charles [UFC 284], and it went to Volk. Then you line up the second fight, extremely begrudgingly by Charles and then you got the cut… They’re self-administered wounds, guys. He just didn’t want to fight Islam.”
This isn’t the first time Sonnen has made claims about Oliveira allegedly avoiding a fight against Islam Makhachev. He had previously stated that he knew about Oliveira’s intentions never to face the 155-pound kingpin and had told him about withdrawing from UFC 294 multiple times. As mentioned, Oliveira was scheduled to fight Makhachev in the rematch at UFC 294 in October 2022, but had to pull out due to an injury.
