Chael Sonnen names the opponent he would “love” to see Aljamain Sterling fight in his featherweight debut

By Susan Cox - October 3, 2023

Chael Sonnen is naming the opponent he would ‘love’ to see Aljamain Sterling fight in his featherweight debut.

Chael Sonnen

UFC 292 saw Aljamain Sterling (23-4 MMA) unseated from his UFC title when Sean O’Malley (17-1 MMA) TKO’d him at 0:51 of round 2 on August 19th in Boston. ‘Suga’, at 28, became the new UFC bantamweight champion.

‘Funk Master’ is weighing his cards trying to figure out what’s next in his MMA career. Will Sterling move to featherweight to pursue a two-division championship or will he attempt to take back his crown in a rematch with O’Malley?

Well, former fighter turned analyst, Chael Sonnen, believes Sterling should pursue his featherweight goals.

In a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, Chael Sonnen, spoke about who he would ‘love’ to see Aljamain Sterling fight at featherweight:

“Aljo vs. Max Holloway. Guys, I love this idea.  I don’t think the change to 145 should have been affected by passing the belt at 135. Because he was gonna leave the belt either way… I love that fight. In fact, I don’t know if there’s an Aljo fight I would rather see. I’m an advocate for history prevailing and Aljo getting a rematch against Sean, but I don’t know that I would rather see that than see Aljo at 145. That is the pursuit of a championship, make no mistake.”

Aljamain Sterling

Continuing, Sonnen said (h/t MMANews):

“That would be a very fast path to (the featherweight title)… This would be the ultimate way to see how you are gonna do at this weight class. Just from Aljo’s standpoint, I don’t know that I have been as excited to picture in my mind him walking out there, the buildup, the match, and how we are gonna break this down… Moreover, what do you do with Max? Max is in a wildly confusing position… Some fresh blood within the division, a new match, a new challenge; I love it!”

Max Holloway (25-7 MMA) last fought and defeated ‘The Korean Zombie’ (17-8 MMA) by KO this past August. “Blessed’ has fallen short three times in attempting to obtain the UFC featherweight title from champion Alexander Volkanovski (26-2 MMA).

Do you agree with Sonnen that a Aljamain Sterling vs. Max Holloway fight is the one to make?

Share your thoughts in the comment section PENN Nation!


Topics:

Aljamain Sterling Chael Sonnen UFC