Chael Sonnen thinks Robert Whittaker should be rewarded with a title shot after his fight with Paulo Costa fell through.
Despite the promotion officially announcing a fight between Whittaker (24-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) and Costa (14-2 MMA, 6-2 UFC) for the UFC 284 card on Feb. 11 in Perth, Australia, Costa repeatedly said that he never signed a contract. Costa has one fight remaining in his deal but has failed to come to an agreement with the UFC.
That led to the fight falling apart and Whittaker being pulled from the card altogether. But since Whittaker was ready to fight, Sonnen says the UFC should just book him against middleweight champion Alex Pereira (7-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC).
“Robert Whittaker was willing to do it and didn’t get it,” Sonnen said on his YouTube channel. “I (am one) who believes in a forfeiture clause, I believe that Whittaker just won. I believe we now have our fight, it’s Pereira vs. Whittaker. That’s what I believe. That’s how I see it.”
Sonnen admits he thinks the UFC will go in the direction of an immediate rematch between Pereira and Israel Adesanya, and doubts Whittaker will ask for a title shot. But if Whittaker was to get a shot against Pereira, Sonnen thinks the oddsmakers would favor the former champ.
“Robert Whittaker is not going to pounce on the opportunity, believe me,” Sonnen said. “Robert Whittaker is going to do nothing with this opportunity, but if somebody does it for him, he would be willing to step in there and fight Alex Pereira and Robert Whittaker would be the favorite at DraftKings if that line opened up today, and that’s a really interesting match.”
