Chael Sonnen is chiming in on the allegations that Islam Makhachev cheated at UFC 284.
One of the biggest fights of the year went down at UFC 284 on Saturday night in Perth, Australia. The main event saw hometown hero, Alexander Volkanovski lose his UFC lightweight debut against champion Islam Makhachev. Both men were very cordial to each other in the leadup to and following the fight, however, the next day a member of Volkanovski’s camp began to make accusations.
Fellow UFC fighter and training partner for Volkanovski, Dan Hooker took to Twitter following the event to call out Makhachev for cheating. Hooker was accusing Makhachev of receiving an IV after his weight cut to help him recover, a practice that is illegal in the rulebooks.
Dumb cunt thinks he can fly to Australia hire a nurse to give him an I.V and we won’t find out. Cheating dog.
— Dan Hangman Hooker (@danthehangman) February 13, 2023
Chael Sonnen is not convinced that Dan Hooker’s story is true
Hooker took to social media to air his frustrations with Makhachev. He tweeted that Makhachev hired a nurse in Australia to administer him an IV. Now one of the biggest talkers in all of MMA, Chael Sonnen is taking a deep dive into the topic on his YouTube channel. He speaks from personal experience about bending the rules to get an advantage.
“Hooker is maintaining that he has been told by a medical professional, in this case a nurse, that the nurse administered an IV to Islam after the weigh-ins and prior to the fight. Now, what would happen?” he said. “If I was to guess, that did not happen, if I was to guess and you’re talking to cheater guys, you’re talking to, I can’t think of an administration or a jurisdiction that I have ever been under that I didn’t violate, I really can’t. But I brought my own IV. I wasn’t going to go to a hospital. I wasn’t going to go check in and it wasn’t going to bring somebody to my room that later could have a Twitter handle and wants to get in the good graces of being Hooker and company.”
Sonnen explained that back when a certain amount of IV was allowed, fighters would administer themselves with enough and later lie about the milliliters taken in. He admitted to doing just that himself. He also went on to say that Makhachev showed no physical marks on his body that would suggest an IV was used. He also stated that if this story was true there would be no way the nurse involved would agree to corroborate the rumor.
“I feel very confident in telling you said nurse is never going to come out,” he said. “I also feel confident in telling you whoever got this information to Dan Hooker, Dan believes it to be true, but whoever got this information to Dan Hooker is a nut-rider trying to gain favor. That’s what I think.”
Makhachev and his team have not yet come out to deny these allegations from Hooker.
