UFC Becomes WWE Without Kayfabe in Bid to Solve Ilia Topuria’s Opponent Crisis

Who is Ilia Topuria fighting next? That’s been the question surrounding the lightweight champion. Many top contenders, including Justin Gaethje, Paddy Pimblett, and Arman Tsarukyan, have been touted as potential title shot contenders. Meanwhile, UFC legend Chael Sonnen has appeared to take a page out of WWE’s playbook to solve the conundrum surrounding Topuria’s first title defense.

When Chael Sonnen took WWE as a means to explain how Dana White and Co. could use their method to book Ilia Topuria‘s next fight, he did not say that because both promotions are under the same umbrella now. Sonnen mentioned that back in the day, UFC was looking for inspiration to sort out its business model, and guess what? The UFC went on to adopt the WWE’s model.

“It was Lorenzo [Fertitta] himself that told us when the UFC was getting started… that they looked all over the world at franchises, looked at all the different models all the way up to the New York Yankees, but the model they went with was that of the WWE,” Chael Sonnen stated on his YouTube channel. “All the way down to the way contracts work, what you guys now know as locker room bonuses, for example, all the way down to the network, what you know as Fight Pass. Everything was very much in line with the WWE.”

Well, Chael Sonnen has been following WWE for a while, and he believes that he understands how they book winners for their predetermined matchups. He believes the UFC could adopt a similar approach to pick an opponent for Ilia Topuria. Sonnen took the example of the WrestleMania 41 match between CM Punk, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins. The ending of that match wasn’t something fans were expecting, as Rollins went on to win it when most people thought that it was either Punk or Reigns.

Translating that into the UFC lightweight division, and that too, without the ‘kayfabe’, Sonnen spoke about Arman Tsarukyan, former interim champion Justin Gaethje, and English star Paddy Pimblett. While the fans are arguing who, within those three, gets to fight for the title, the CEO may just bring in another fight for Ilia Topuria. That fighter is someone that fans are expecting: Dan Hooker.

“Do you know what the correct answer that the WWE would have gone with when you end up in a position where you’ve got Tsarukyan, you got Gaethje, you got Paddy ‘The Baddy’, all on equal level, all arguing and all have a rightful claim to the same thing?” Chael Sonnen further stated. “You know what the WWE would do? They would go with Dan Hooker. That’s what the answer would have been. They would build in a direction no different than they did WrestleMania.”

“WrestleMania, for the entire building that was there, it was a debate between two. Was it going to be Roman [Reigns] or was it going to be [CM] Punk? And therefore, because the debate was between Roman and Punk, they went with Seth [Rollins],” Sonnen added.

Well, Dana White may or may not adopt that method of picking an opponent, but Chael Sonnen saying the UFC took inspiration from WWE is actually true. But in the case of Ilia Topuria, the lightweight champion has been called out by Islam Makhachev amid this crisis of finding his next opponent, claiming that he’s intentionally avoiding the rightful contender.

Ilia Topuria called out for ducking #1 contender

Islam Makhachev has maintained that he will be fighting Ilia Topuria after he deals with Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322. But he issued a callout recently on behalf of his former rival and the #1 lightweight contender, Arman Tsarukyan. The Armenian star was already prepped to fight for the title at UFC 311, but missing out on that opportunity has cost him in a big way.

Islam Makhachev claims to have heard about the way Ilia Topuria has snubbed Arman Tsarukyan, which he thinks is the wrong move by the champion. “It’s no secret that Ilia’s (Topuria) been ducking Arman (Tsarukyan). I’ve already seen some comments on the internet where he says, ‘I’d rather retire than fight Arman,” the Dagestan native stated during a recent interview.

Well, it may be fun to draw such comparisons between WWE and the UFC, but the question of who Ilia Topuria’s next opponent is still remains. The lightweight champion apparently teased a fight against Justin Gaethje, but there is no confirmation on that front. Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below.