Chael Sonnen believes Dustin Poirier will defeat Justin Gaethje once again.
Five years after their first encounter, Poirier and Gaethje will meet in a rematch for the BMF title in the main event of UFC 291. Poirier will look for a repeat of his 3rd round TKO of Gaethje from 2018 whereas Gaethje tries to get revenge.
‘The Bad Guy’ Breaks Down The BMF Battle
Sonnen, who makes his long-awaited return as a desk analyst at UFC 291, gives his take on the marquee rubber match going down in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“One secret that fighters have when we go out there, we know who’s going to win every time,” Sonnen told MMA Junkie. “We don’t always think it’s us, by the way. We know who’s going to win 99.9% of the time. The great fights that you’ve seen, the truly great fights, and you have not seen a total of 10 of these, both guys truly believe that’s them. And in this situation, both guys truly believe it’s them. Lemme tell you my evidence for that…
“Dustin knows he can beat him cause he already did. Gaethje called for this fight and that is what everybody is missing. This was not Dana’s idea, this wasn’t Dustin’s idea, this wasn’t Masvidal’s, this wasn’t the fan’s or the media’s. Justin Gaethje called for this fight after he beat [Rafael] Fiziev. I have never heard Justin Gaethje call for a fight. I followed him back when he was in the World Series of Fighting, which is now the PFL. I called every single fight that he had over there, and I only bring that to you. I have never heard him call somebody out.”
Sonnen continued.
“He even got into a beef with Islam trying to get to Charles, but he wasn’t calling Charles out. He was calling that I should be in front of Islam. There’s something about that first fight that eats at him. There’s something that has bothered him. I wanna know what’s going on. I wanna know why this keeps him up at night. I wanna know why he wants his rematch.”
‘We’re Gonna Get The Same Result’
Regardless of why Gaethje so desires a part II with Poirier, Sonnen believes Poirier will ultimately get his hand raised for a second time over ‘The Highlight’.
“Dustin Poirier does [leave with the BMF belt],” Sonnen predicted. “And it’s gonna be a long, drawn out war. It’s just a situation of two guys that I don’t feel either has declined, surprisingly. You’ve only got so many bullets to know that these guys still have something in the chamber and that they haven’t left a piece of themselves out.
“It really is remarkable where these guys are at. They’re so honorable,” Sonnen said of Poirier and Gaethje. “However, neither guy has declined and neither guy has gotten meaningfully better. They were studs then and they’re studs now. They’re doing the same thing at the same weight class, under the same rules. We’re gonna get the same result.”
Will history repeat itself at UFC 291?
