The predictions of most UFC fans were proven wrong when Sean Strickland defeated the noted former UFC Middleweight champ, Israel Adesanya, at UFC 293. Post his defeat against ‘Tarzan’, ‘Izzy’ recently took to his YouTube channel for the first time and revealed that he will have his next fight “just for fun”. He also revealed that belts didn’t matter to him except for being a nice accessory and bringing more money. Hence, several fans currently speculate that his next fight probably won’t be for a UFC title.

But his “just for fun” remarks also have a large chunk of fans under predicament currently. In such a situation, the noted UFC legend, Chael Sonnen, recently took to his own YouTube. Sonnen put out his take on who could ‘Izzy’ possibly fight next. He also predicted that Israel Adesanya might make a Conor McGregor-like move since he probably doesn’t want to be in a title fight next.

Chael Sonnen wanted equal opportunities for Israel Adesanya and Conor McGregor

Most fans might remember how the UFC authorities granted a title shot to the noted UFC icon, Conor McGregor, even though he was returning from his coveted boxing match against Floyd Mayweather. But, McGregor lost the coveted UFC 229 title fight against Khabib Nurmagomedov which made him ineligible for another UFC Lightweight title shot. At this juncture, ‘The Notorious’ made his way up to Welterweight and fought the noted, Donald Cerrone, in a non-title fight main event at UFC 246.

Sonnen predicted a similar move from Adesanya. He implied in his video that he doesn’t want a title fight next. His prediction becomes more evident when we take a look at the fact that ‘Izzy’ has already fought all the top 5 fighters in the UFC Middleweight division. ‘The American Gangster’ also labeled ‘Izzy’ has, “fought and he’s even refought” the top 5 UFC Middleweights. Hence, his entire prediction may be realized from his question, “So when he says ‘for fun’, is he willing to leave the weight class?”

Well, a large chunk of fans might find sense in Sonnen’s analysis of the entire situation and his prediction. But he also mentioned that there is a factor that might hamper ‘Izzy’s’ wish.

Chael Sonnen predicted a denial of Israel Adesanya’s wishes due to his contract

The UFC provides most of its champions with PPV points. The points account for a huge amount of added income for them per fight. But there are a few noted UFC stars who get PPV points despite not being champions. However, they would definitely need to feature in a UFC PPV for that. Most fans know that ‘The Last Stylebender’ is also one of the biggest PPV stars in the UFC.

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But Sonnen stated, “This might be the first time that Izzy’s not right [about having a fight just for fun]”. He also implied that Izzy’s contract possibly includes that he will be provided with PPV points and hence “he has to fight on pay-per-views”.

However, despite Adesanya being a huge UFC star, most fans would agree that he probably can’t match Conor McGregor’s fame. Now if ‘Izzy’ is booked for a non-title bout main event on a UFC PPV, like he wants a “just for fun” fight. He probably won’t be able to attract similar numbers as the Conor McGregor vs. Donald Cerrone fight. The UFC also would never want to have a low-selling pay-per-view.

Thus, a large chunk of fans might stand in good agreement with ‘Sonnen’s’ prediction. ‘Izzy’ may be wrong about saying “his next fight is gonna just be for fun”. How do you see this entire situation? What would be your answer to Sonnen’s question, asking “Who would be fun?” as Izzy’s next rival?

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