Chael Sonnen Explains Benefit Of Max Holloway Moving To 'Dinosaur' Lightweight Division
Max Holloway continued to cement his status as ‘best of the rest’ in the UFC’s featherweight division this past weekend in Singapore.
In Saturday’s UFC Fight Night main event, “Blessed” made it two wins from two since his third defeat at the hands of reigning champion Alexander Volkanovski. He did so by sending “The Korean Zombie” into retirement on the back of a third-round knockout loss.
With that, Holloway has now maintained his #1 position in the 145-pound rankings and added Jung to a list of victims that includes Arnold Allen,Yair Rodríguez, and Calvin Kattar across recent years.
Moving forward, the Hawaiian has vowed to make his quest for a fourth shot at having his hand raised opposite Volkanovski “undeniable.”
However, one former two-division title challenger thinks he’d be wise to pursue success elsewhere…
Sonnen: Lightweight Move ‘Obvious Answer’ For Holloway
During a video recently uploaded to his YouTube channel, ex-middleweight and light heavyweight UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen provided his take on Holloway’s current standing and options moving forward.
According to “The American Gangster,” a committed venture to the lightweight division is the “obvious” answer to Holloway’s tricky situation. The Hawaiian standout previously had a one-and-done experience at 155 pounds, where he unsuccessfully challenged for the interim title against Dustin Poirier.
In the eyes of Sonnen, a permanent switch would not only benefit Holloway, but also offer a solution to a veteran-dominated lightweight title picture that newcomers are struggling to break into.
“The most glaringly obvious answer is he goes to 155 pounds,” Sonnen said. “Max feels as though he went to 155 pounds and it was just too much size… What Max doesn’t realize is it’s a different animal now. With age, you get this maturity and you get this strength… This is something that can be done very fast. We’re talking about 10 pounds. Max, just with age and maturity, it is a different body and it is a different frame right now. He could go to 155 and be a massive impact player right out of the gate.
“(Lightweight), as fun as it is, is becoming the dinosaur division. Not for nothing, but show me a young guy up at ’55 that we care about,” Sonnen continued. “It has to be out with the old and in with the new, (but) these guys are clinging to it and these new guys don’t even know how to break in… If you brought in Max, who’s already a box-office draw, he could go in and get in there… Not to mention ’45 is getting a little stale with Max beating everyone up… It would seem as though taking him to ’55 solves all the problems.”
Sonnen did note that Volkanovski’s own two-division ambitions could throw a spanner in the works, with the Australian angling for a second crack at dethroning Islam Makhachev following their close contest in Perth this past February.
But despite his three defeats to “Alexander the Great” in the past, Holloway appears unfazed about the difficulty he might face when it comes to securing another date in the cage with Volkanovski.
ICYMI…@BlessedMMA blew the roof off in Singapore 🏠💥 #UFCSingapore pic.twitter.com/JdbYzhZBri
— UFC (@ufc) August 27, 2023
Read Also: Max Holloway Outlines How ‘The Korean Zombie’ Proved Him Wrong At UFC Singapore
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