Chael Sonnen scolds “coward” judges for not providing Alexander Volkanovski with the “industry standard” at UFC 284

By Harry Kettle - February 15, 2023

MMA analyst Chael Sonnen has joked that the judges should’ve given Alexander Volkanovski the win at UFC 284.

Alexander Volkanovski, Islam Makhachev

Last weekend, Alexander Volkanovski put in a fantastic effort against Islam Makhachev. Alas, while he gave it his all, ‘The Great’ came up short with Makhachev getting the nod on the judges’ scorecards.

The unanimous decision win was questioned by some who felt like Volkanovski did enough to win. Alas, that’s the way the cookie crumbles sometimes in mixed martial arts.

Some pundits have come out and explained how they scored the contest. Chael Sonnen, meanwhile, has come at it from a different point of view.

“I gotta tell you, I’m not being completely sincere within this, but it is a conversation. I am saying this with some tongue in cheek, but not completely,” Sonnen began. “Every single industry has something called ‘a standard of the industry’. You have a home-court advantage. That means, if you’re the guy from home and the judges have an opportunity to stick it up the other guy’s ass, including unjustly, they will. Did you watch those Olympics, took place in Tokyo? You had more Japanese medalists than you had in 100 years… It’s the way it works.

Sonnen lays down the Volkanovski law

“I’m not positive that (the judges) got it right, but I don’t really live in that world that comes in and questions judges. I don’t begrudge your decision, that you saw Islam won.

“What I begrudge is the lack of courage that you showed by giving Islam the fight and not doing what we have an industry standard of doing and giving it to the hometown guy, the hometown guy who was undersized, who was the only one who had any interest there tonight, who had all of the crowd and the momentum going… who was a three-to-one underdog,” Sonnen added. “You give it to the guy. That is what the standard of our industry says.”

Quotes via MMA News

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Topics:

Alex Volkanovski Chael Sonnen UFC