Chael Sonnen Believes Conor McGregor Vs. Jorge Masvidal 'Has Never Been Closer'

Nobody is sure what is happening next when it comes to a Conor McGregor fight. But Chael Sonnen believes a fight with Jorge Masvidal has never been closer.

Fresh off his flying knee knockout of Ben Askren earlier this month, Masvidal proceeded to call out McGregor for what he called an easy payday. It was even revealed McGregor was one of only two fights Masvidal would take up next. While McGregor is yet to respond, the fight has been all that anyone in the combat sport world is talking about recently.

Of course, UFC president Dana White didn’t seem too interested in it, stating that “Gamebred” was too big for the Irishman. But as Sonnen explained on ESPN, he believed it was a statement made to challenge McGregor into accepting the fight.

Sonnen would go into this further on his own YouTube channel:

“Jorge called him out,” Sonnen explained. “Jorge’s name is red-hot right now. TMZ confronted Dana White and asked him straight up, ‘Masvidal vs. Conor McGregor, yes or no?’ Dana White said no, we’re not going to do that fight. Jorge is too big for him. Everybody was just happy to accept that. Okay, we got our answer.

“…Guys, guys, please, please, please don’t miss this. The biggest fight promoter in the history of promotion just went to TMZ, one of the biggest outlets aside from ESPN itself to cover this sport on a mainstream level. He picked his words very carefully. And if any of you missed this, come on. They missed the second sentence of why. Because Jorge is too big. Do you think that’s going to sit well with an ego like Conor McGregor? Do you think Conor McGregor does not know that Dana White just told the world that he personally believes that Jorge could beat Conor and even offered up an excuse?“

Sonnen offers an interesting theory but it must be taken with a pinch of salt. Despite the rise in stock for Masvidal, the rematch with Khabib Nurmagomedov seems to be McGregor’s ultimate priority.

Regardless, Sonnen is not claiming that fight is next. However, he believes that fight is closer than it was maybe a week ago or so:

“I am not sharing for you that that fight is what’s up next,” Sonnen concluded. “I am going to share for you that through the statement of the denial and the dismissal of the fight by the president, that fight has never been closer.”