Chael Sonnen, a former UFC fighter-turned-analyst, shortly gave his ideas on the UFC 310 pay-per-view predominant occasion between Alexandre Pantoja and Kai Asakura, which headlines this Saturday.
Sonnen by no means received a UFC world title. Between 2010 and 2013, he got here up quick on three events in opposition to former middleweight champion Anderson Silva (twice) and present heavyweight champion Jon Jones.
Though Sonnen by no means received to carry gold on the highest degree, he pulled again the curtain on why the debuting Asakura deserves a championship alternative after profitable 13 fights in RIZIN throughout a six-year stint within the promotion.
Sonnen stated hardcore MMA followers are extra enthusiastic about this struggle due to the newly minted name-value Asakura brings to the Octagon somewhat than Pantoja’s dominance at 125 kilos.
“I gotta inform you, if you understand Asakura, yeah,” Sonnen stated. “It sounds proper. One factor about it – you will get the boys collectively and you may put them in a room. One hour later, they are going to inform you who the chief is. They’ll additionally inform you who the co-captain is. They don’t have to the touch. They don’t need to struggle. They don’t need to wrestle. They don’t even have to return close to one another.”
Sonnen used the analogy to emphasise that UFC fighters getting title pictures in debuts is extra widespread than realized. Examples embody UFC 75’s predominant occasion between Quinton Jackson and Dan Henderson, the place the pair unified the belts. The identical goes for Brock Lesnar and Silva, who received title pictures early of their UFC tenures.
“[Alexandre Pantoja] has fairly presumably the most effective tempo within the UFC,” Sonnen stated. “His secret sauce will not be his group. It’s not his coaching. His secret sauce is his capacity to out-scramble all people he’s ever fought. And he can out-scramble them higher than anybody for one motive: he’s in higher form than them.”
What are your ideas on Chael Sonnen’s feedback? Can Kai Asakura upset Alexandre Pantoja to win the flyweight title?