“I’m not going to leave this sport without a second belt. This is my goal.” Islam Makhachev made it clear ahead of UFC 311. The Dagestani aspired to achieve something that even his mentor in the form of Khabib Nurmagomedov could not do in his Hall of Fame career. Moreover, it’s about making his coach, Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov, proud once again. A similar post-fight account like UFC 280 is in order, and Makhachev is prepared to make the climb and join an elite list of fighters winning titles in two different divisions.

However, this decision has cost the Dagestani his lightweight title belt that he defended a record four times and sparked a storm of accusations. Among those speaking out? None other than Chael Sonnen, who didn’t hold back and made a stunning claim that would surely hurt fans of the Dagestani. But what did he say?

‘The American Gangster’ slammed Makhachev in a recent Instagram post for what he saw as an obvious attempt to avoid Ilia Topuria. “Islam did everything you could conceivably do to not fight Ilia, including leave the division, including leave the championship,” Sonnen said. In his opinion, this was not a calculated step to achieve greatness.

It was a premeditated getaway. Especially after Jack Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad to win the welterweight title at UFC 315. Sonnen described the move as the ultimate dodge. According to him, when a fighter is threatened with being stripped for avoiding a contender and responds by voluntarily handing up the belt and changing weight classes, it is a retreat rather than a power move.

According to ‘The American Gangster,’ the Dagestani did not rise to a new challenge at welterweight. He walked away from a dangerous and undefeated scenario at lightweight. And what about the matchup he found at 170lbs? “Hand-picked,” Sonnen claimed, and it’s nothing like the storm ‘El Matador’ was bringing. The Spanish-Georgian, for his part, has not remained silent either. He’s taken verbal jabs at Makhachev, portraying him as someone who fled the biggest task on the table.

And the Dagestani hasn’t been silent either. He took to his X account and wrote, “Difference between me and you, that I cleaned top list in my division, moved to next, but you ran away from two contenders who had consecutive 5-9 wins in FW division. You are nobody in LW division, just a big mouth from Spain with nice haircut. Go get one W, and we can talk boy.”

It is worth noting that Makhachev rejected Ilia Topuria as a credible lightweight contender for the title because, according to him, he was inexperienced at 155lbs and needed to grab a win before requesting a title opportunity. But now, that argument has lost momentum since Makhachev is looking to find a new path at welterweight. And this, too, drew the ire of Chael Sonnen, as he reveals a major flaw behind this logic.

Chael Sonnen points out an issue with Islam Makhachev’s reasoning behind avoiding Ilia Topuria

‘The American Gangster’ didn’t just accuse Islam Makhachev of avoiding Ilia Topuria. He also dismantled the reasoning for it. As he said a few days ago, Makhachev dismissed Topuria by citing his lack of experience in the lightweight division. But this is when things get tricky. According to Chael Sonnen, the same reasoning Makhachev used to reject Topuria becomes a paradox when Islam decides to compete for gold in a new weight class.

In other words, if Makhachev expects welterweights to accept him without “proof,” how can he demand the same proof from Topuria at lightweight? He said, “Islam would like to go to 170, and he would like to challenge for the championship of the world. So, for anybody at 170 to say, ‘I’m not going to face you because you’ve yet to prove yourself,’ do you see where it becomes a problem?” That’s the catch Sonnen focused on.

The verbose MMA analyst highlighted a double standard by referencing Khabib Nurmagomedov’s own rationale, which states that fighters must be “on the rise” rather than “on the way down” to be considered suitable opponents. ‘El Matador, ‘ who is 28 and undefeated, was the perfect fit for a rising star. However, Makhachev’s fans used the same metric to argue against fighting him. Sonnen found that the argument was both incorrect and backward.

If the Dagestani truly seeks greatness, wouldn’t defeating an unbeaten fighter rising through the rankings contribute more to his legacy than selecting a more convenient match at 170? And this is at the heart of Sonnen’s critique: greatness isn’t about comfort—it’s about confrontation. A move up in weight should mean taking on tougher challenges, not avoiding dangerous ones.

But, according to ‘The American Gangster,’ Islam Makhachev did more than just pass over a rising challenger—he moved the goalpost entirely. The issue is not that Topuria lacks merit. It’s that, for all of his accomplishments, Islam Makhachev chose to walk away from the fight that could have cemented his place in history. But what do you think? Do you agree with Chael Sonnen? Let us know in the comments.