Chael Sonnen is not backing off Jorge Masvidal. After Masvidal fired back at Sonnen over his UFC comeback doubts, Sonnen doubled down and said the former BMF titleholder is not walking back into the Octagon.
Masvidal, who went 35-17 in MMA, won the symbolic BMF title, and still owns the fastest knockout in UFC history at five seconds, last fought in the UFC in 2023 against Gilbert Burns. Sonnen’s MMA career ended with a 31-17-1 record, after runs at middleweight, light heavyweight, and heavyweight, plus UFC title shots against Anderson Silva and Jon Jones. This is not a rankings beef. It is Sonnen saying Masvidal’s return talk does not match reality.
Sonnen told Ariel Helwani that the issue began because he did not believe Masvidal’s Octagon comeback claim.
“Well, that’s a tough one. It’s very tough because I don’t take Jorge as like an equal. I don’t look at him as like an unequal,” Sonnen said. “And he is claiming that he’s going to fight in the Octagon, and I don’t come to him to hurt his dreams. I’m coming just to let his life get on track. Don’t pause. Don’t cancel your plans on the weekend. You’re not fighting in the Octagon.”
Sonnen said Masvidal may have been told something incorrectly, but he does not believe the UFC return is happening.
“I’m either right or I’m wrong. But for me to be right, he doesn’t have to actually go in there and fight. He just has to have been told by somebody in authority that he’s going to go in there and fight. And I think he should call that person back. There was a misunderstanding. Jorge Masvidal will never fight in the UFC. That’s not a knock to Jorge Masvidal. That’s a reality. I made that claim and that really like struck a nerve. I don’t know why that made him so upset.”
Watch the full clip below:
Chael Sonnen responds to Jorge Masvidal’s callout and explains what reignited their feud:
“Jorge Masvidal will never fight in the UFC [again]. That’s not a knock on Jorge Masvidal—that’s a reality.
I made that claim, and it really struck a nerve. I don’t know why that made him… pic.twitter.com/Ut8W7abR2V
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) May 4, 2026
Sonnen Says He Would Fight Masvidal, But He Is Not Chasing Him
Sonnen did not reject the idea of fighting Masvidal. He rejected the idea that Masvidal is someone he is actively chasing.
“I would never turn down a fight with Jorge Masvidal, but I would never seek a fight with Jorge Masvidal,” Sonnen said. “The guys that I come out on your show when I call these guys like Jon Jones, like Fedor Emelianenko. This is Jorge Masvidal. Like Jorge, I don’t really know what to do with this.”
Sonnen then questioned Masvidal’s physical shape and said they could settle the size talk with a scale.
“Jorge is greatly out of shape. And Jorge made a claim that he would come up to heavyweight to face me. And I just, I thought that would be fun for your show. Like, hey Jorge, let’s both fly into Ariel’s show and let’s just do a weigh-in right now. I won’t have a lot of time to lose weight. You won’t have a little bit. Let’s just go right into Ariel’s show and let’s just get on a scale because there is no way that he is the smaller guy.”
Sonnen said the answer depends on how the question is framed.
“When you ask me, do I have an interest in fighting Jorge? No, I don’t have any interest in Jorge at all. I don’t find Jorge to be interesting. But if you’re asking me if I would fight Jorge Masvidal, of course, of course I would.”
Masvidal previously claimed Sonnen was jealous because Masvidal landed a role on the UFC podcast Deep Waters with Dustin Poirier, Dean Thomas, and Chris Weidman. Sonnen said he did not know Masvidal had that show.
“Okay. I didn’t know he had a UFC podcast. You just shared something,” Sonnen said. After the claim was explained, Sonnen answered, “I didn’t know that. Okay. So that’s not true.”
Sonnen said even if Masvidal got the show, that would not bother him.
“It could be true. If he’s got the show, I would not be jealous that I’m not on a show with Jorge Masvidal,” Sonnen said. He then pushed back on Masvidal’s word choice, saying, “What does jealous mean? Jealous is the corrupt desire to possess something somebody else has?” Sonnen added, “I think the word you’re looking for is envy, not jealous,” before closing that point with, “No, I wouldn’t harbor something against Jorge if he found a good fortune.”
Helwani then brought up Gamebred Bareknuckle MMA. Masvidal has been publicly attached to the brand, which has staged bare-knuckle MMA events featuring former UFC names. Sonnen questioned whether Masvidal personally operates the business behind the scenes. “Ariel, what are you doing? Are you pretending that Jorge Masvidal has a promotion?” Sonnen said.
Sonnen kept pressing on whether Masvidal personally controls the promotion.
“Jorge Masvidal has a show?” Sonnen asked. He then followed with, “Jorge Masvidal has a license to put on shows?” Sonnen continued, “The people that participate in the show, the check that they get at the end of the night, it’s signed by Jorge Masvidal?”
Sonnen wanted a yes-or-no answer on Masvidal’s role.
“No, no, no, no, no. I want you to answer my question. These are very simple,” Sonnen said. “Jorge Masvidal signed the bottom of checks. Yes or no?” He kept going with, “What do you think? What do you think?”
Sonnen then tied the podcast claim back into the business question. “
Do you think that Jorge Masvidal, a guy bragging about a podcast, you believe he has a promoter’s license within a jurisdiction that you cover? Yes or no?” Sonnen said. “Does he have contracts? Does Jorge Masvidal have contracts? Did he work with the legal team and prepare a document for an organization that he is the head of? Do you think that yes or no?”
Sonnen did not fully call Masvidal a figurehead, but he clearly questioned the setup.
“I’m actually not even going that far. Who is they?” Sonnen said. When the discussion returned to whether the event was Masvidal’s show, Sonnen answered, “Well, I know that there is a show. I’m asking you, you’re the one that said it’s his show. So I’m asking you if you believe he signs the bottom of the check.”
Sonnen closed by saying he did not believe Masvidal was the person paying fighters.
“I don’t believe that you believe that,” Sonnen said. “And of course, I know that. Of course, I know Gamebred Masvidal does not sign the bottom of a check.”
For Sonnen, the UFC return claim is the part that started everything. Masvidal can keep pushing for a fight, but Sonnen is treating the comeback talk as a bad message from someone who should call the UFC back and ask again.
