Chael Sonnen defends Henry Cejudo vs. Jose Aldo booking

The next crack at UFC bantamweight champ Henry Cejudo will go to former UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo. Unfortunately, this matchup is generating quite a bit of controversy, as Aldo lost his only fight in the bantamweight division, and is seen as less deserving of the shot than many of his rivals. Chael Sonnen doesn’t see the issue.

“I’m nothing short of surprised at the pushback Jose Aldo is getting for receiving a title shot against Henry Cejudo,” Sonnen said in a video posted to his YouTube channel.

Sonnen continued, sharing his belief that many of this matchup’s naysayers — such as bantamweight contenders Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan — are simply jealous of Jose Aldo.

“You’re going to have a hard time convincing me that you’re using logic,” Sonnen said. “I know you’re attempting to present your argument through logic — logic being that Jose Aldo has only been at 135 pounds one time, and that he has never won a fight. He’s 0-1. I understand that being the logic, but you’re having a hard time convincing me that that’s what you truly believe as much as that’s just the argument that you’ve chosen because of jealousy, because of some kind of envy for Jose Aldo.”

Sonnen then argued that Cejudo, a former two-division champion who is widely credited with saving the UFC flyweight division, has earned the right to call his shots.

“Look, Jose Aldo’s the greatest featherweight of all time,” Sonnen said. “10 years on top, never beaten. He did a really great job. By the way, Henry Cejudo wants to fight him. Henry’s opinion has to matter somewhere in here. We cannot punish for success. We cannot say ‘you’re the champion and therefor your opinions and your wants and needs don’t go out the window and you just fight the No. 1 guy.’ That’s just a little bit of a silly argument. A guy that does some heavy lifting, like Henry, and became a champ-champ and saved an entire division, and this is the guy that he wants.”

Jose Aldo will get his crack at Henry Cejudo at UFC 250 in Brazil this May.

What do you think of this argument from Chael Sonnen?

This article first appeared on BJPENN.com on 2/26/2020.