After 30 years since its inception, the UFC has become a machine. There are fights almost every other weekend, but there are certain fights that fans hope to see and generate massive buzz, but Dana White and Co. were never able to capitalize on them. One of those matchups involved former light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira and Tom Aspinall, who was the interim champion during ‘Poatan’s reign last year.

Last year, Alex Pereira expressed his ambition to take the heavyweight division by storm after claiming the middleweight and light heavyweight titles. His assertions caught the eye of many enthusiasts, with Tom Aspinall, who holds the interim heavyweight title, being hailed as the perfect heavyweight gatekeeper for ‘Poatan to make his mark in the division. Even Jon Jones wanted to fight Pereira, but Dana White shut that down because he wanted to set up Jones vs. Aspinall first, claiming that Pereira could face the winner.

However, the Jones and Aspinall fight never materialized, and, in the meantime, Pereira lost his belt. There was an opportunity for Dana White to set up a superfight, as Chael Sonnen recently pointed out the lack of such fights in the UFC. The MMA legend also claims that Ilia Topuria vs Islam Makhachev, when both were champions in their division, could have also competed in a superfight, but now, it has lost its shine.

Furthermore, ‘The American Gangster’ also pointed out how Islam Makhachev vs Jack Della Maddalena is also a matchup where one fighter has the belt, while the other is chasing him. This could have been avoided if Dana White and Co. had not made the decision to ask the Dagestan native to vacate his lightweight belt, which would have raised the stakes.

“The only way you are going to get Islam and Ilia is if Jack wins. Now, that doesn’t guarantee you Islam vs Ilia… but it’s the only way you would even have a chance of getting Islam to weigh 155 pounds again… It really is pivotal,” Chael Sonnen stated on his YouTube channel. “If this was champion vs champion, that’d be a superfight, That would be an ultimate superfight. We’ve only been treated to five of those in history of champion vs champion.”

He mentioned that Jack Della Maddalena hasn’t been treated like a star and is massively underrated. Chael Sonnen had previously claimed that Dana White and Co. treated the Australian fighter as a “transitional champion,” a practice WWE often employs. So, his fight against Islam Makhachev may not sell enough tickets. Sonnen claims that, as Khabib Nurmagomedov mentioned, this fight is going to take place at Madison Square Garden, the CEO may need to add some support to the PPV headliner.

Dana White suggested adding ‘support’ to the Islam Makhachev vs Jack Della Maddalena headliner

Chael Sonnen did all the math when it came to the potential Islam Makhachev vs Jack Della Maddalena headliner. As we’ve mentioned, he believes the main event may struggle to sell the PPV all on its own, so there has to be a plan in Dana White’s mind to add another exciting title fight in the co-main event. And guess what? Sonnen believes the fight between Joshua Van and Alexandre Pantoja, or the one between Valentina Shevchenko and Zhang Weili, could be the perfect choices.

“I admit that it must be joined with a supporting cast. Joshua Van and Pantoja. It’s not the world’s biggest fight, but I’m saying that that’s a title fight that, for sure, will not main event anything,” Chael Sonnen added. “I believe Weili and Valentina are a lot closer to getting announced. I could see that as a supporting fight.”

The current downturn in MMA, as noted by experts, should serve as a wake-up call for Dana White to line up some blockbuster matchups. But it’s been a minute since that last occurred. What do you think about Chael Sonnen’s take on the UFC CEO? Drop your thoughts in the comments section below.