Chael Sonnen thinks Alexander Volkanovski let his guard down against Ilia Topuria after winning round one.
At UFC 298, Volkanovski planned to humble Topuria in the main event and hand the latter his first professional MMA loss. ‘The Great’ looked good early and won the first round on all three judges’ scorecards before the Georgian title challenger changed everything with his power.
Topuria backed up his trash talk and knocked out Volkanvski in round two to become the new UFC featherweight champion. Since then, the MMA community has debated what went wrong for the former 145-pound king.
During a video posted on his YouTube channel, Chael Sonnen listed the potential reasons Volkanovski lost before giving Topuria credit for his life-changing win:
“I think the judges gave that first round to Volkanovski and that’s very relevant. If you want to talk about Volkanovski, he got old or he got tired or there’s residue from him losing his last fight, I think those are really fair talking points, I just don’t think that’s what happened [at UFC 298]. If we do start going in that direction, you’re not only insulting Volkanovski, but you’re also taking away from the victory of Topuria, and I don’t think that’s right.”
In Oct. 2023, Volkanovski suffered a first-round knockout loss in a short-notice title fight against Islam Makhachev. Sonnen referenced the devastating defeat while discussing Topuria knocking out ‘The Great’ at UFC 298
“Perhaps Volk was getting comfortable. Perhaps Volkanovski, like me, thought Volkanovski was winning those exchanges. There was no need to mix it up. If you were to look back, boxing is more guilty than MMA, if you were to look back at a guy who was knocked out in his previous contest, a standup battle does not favor him right away. He’s going to be a little bit slower. He’s not going to be as comfortable. He’s not going to have the same volume and the same output.”
#UFC298 Official Scorecards: Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria (@Topuriailia)
See every scorecard here ➡️: https://t.co/nHNnGGq0rO pic.twitter.com/wjNOfUTqKW
— UFC News (@UFCNews) February 18, 2024
Chael Sonnen believes Alexander Volkanovski was comfortable with cruising to a decision win at UFC 298
The first round between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria wasn’t overly action-packed, with Volkanovski awarded the round on the scorecards. Chael Sonnen believes Volkanovski was potentially comfortable after winning the first five minutes, leading to Topuria getting the knockout win in round two.
Sonnen had this to say during the previously mentioned YouTube video:
“I think Volkanovski got comfortable. I think Volkanovski said, ‘Look, I’ve already done that for one frame, I just got four more to go, and of those four, I only need to win two of them. I think he was doing the math when all of a sudden Topuria stepped in and shut his lights off.”
Alexander Volkanovski doesn’t seem interested in retiring after suffering his second consecutive knockout loss. Therefore, it’ll be intriguing to see if the UFC gives him an immediate rematch against Ilia Topuria or if ‘The Great’ must bounce back against another top featherweight contender.
Watch Sonnen’s YouTube video on Volkanovski vs. Topuria below:
