Chael Sonnen has heard the pitch to send Alexander Volkanovski and Justin Gaethje out together in one last fight, and he wants no part of it. According to MMA Fighting’s Morning Report on Wednesday, Sonnen called the double retirement fight idea “one of the dumbest ideas I’ve ever heard.”
He’s right. About the packaging, anyway.
The talk around Volkanovski vs. Gaethje has been getting louder all week, and the noise has spread past fans with a fantasy booking app. Yahoo Sports ran a headline Wednesday saying a UFC lightweight contender supports the matchup. The headline doesn’t say much beyond that, so I won’t pretend to know who it is or why. What it does tell you is that the fight has some backing inside the division Volkanovski would be stepping into. Then Sonnen came along and kicked the legs out from under the farewell angle.
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Volk just gave you the reason
The case against booking Volkanovski in a retirement fight is whatever he did on Sunday.
At UFC 333 he beat Movsar Evloev, and the UFC noted on X that the win moved him past Jose Aldo for the most title fight victories in UFC featherweight history. Think about that for a second. You don’t usually see a guy set the division record and then get handed a gold watch in the same week.
He also did it sick. Happy Punch posted what Volkanovski said on fight day while he was dealing with a chest infection: “I’m sick, but the fight would be too easy if I felt too good anyway.” That’s the kind of line you only get away with if you win, and Arnold Allen said as much on X, writing, “Not too many geezers like Volk, probably wouldn’t of seen this if he had lost, fairrrrr play.”
Fair play is right. And Evloev, for what it’s worth, changed his Instagram bio to read 0-1 after the loss, according to Championship Rounds. He took it hard enough to make it part of his identity, which says something about the man who handed it to him.
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So you’ve got a fighter who just made history and fought through a chest infection to do it. That doesn’t sound like a guy ready to be marched into a ceremonial last dance.
He’s already told you what he wants
Volkanovski isn’t hiding the ball on what comes next. In comments shared by Championship Rounds on Monday, he said he’d be up for a rematch with Ilia Topuria before he retires, with one condition.
“That would be great too. If it’s gonna be for a lightweight title then yea,” he said. “To get that win back would be great. I’m a competitor and I’d love to test myself against him.”
Read that again. He’s talking about a belt. He’s talking about revenge. “To get that win back” is a fighter who still has a loss stuck in his teeth and wants it out. Nobody in that headspace should be booked in a fight whose whole marketing hook is the ending.
That’s my problem with the double retirement pitch, and I think it’s what’s eating at Sonnen too. A retirement fight decides the story before anybody makes the walk. It tells you both men are done, and that the result is mostly about the handshake and the gloves on the canvas afterward. That framing is fine for a guy with nothing left to chase. Volkanovski just told the world he’s chasing a lightweight title and the man who beat him.
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Book the fight, skip the funeral
Here’s where I split from the people who want the whole idea thrown out. If the UFC wants Volkanovski vs. Gaethje, fine. I like a matchmaker who books chaos, and a lightweight contender apparently likes this one too. A fighter who just broke Aldo’s record against a name from the 155-pound class is a real fight with real stakes.
Just sell it as that. Put it on a card as a fight that matters to the lightweight picture, let the winner keep going, and let whoever loses decide on his own time whether he’s finished. Nobody needs the UFC or a promoter picking retirement dates for two men in public. Fighters who answer questions straight tend to tell you when they’re done, and Volkanovski answered this week by asking for Topuria and a title.
Sonnen called the farewell pitch one of the dumbest he’s ever heard. I’d keep the matchup and throw out the gold watch. The guy with the featherweight record and a chest infection on fight night already told you what he’s after, and it’s a lightweight belt with Topuria standing on the other side of it.
