Chael Sonnen Offers His Pick For Khabib vs. McGregor

Chael Sonnen knows who he’s picking to win tonight’s (Sat. October 6, 2018) main event.

UFC 229 is being headlined by a lightweight title fight between defending champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor. On Thursday, McGregor and Khabib were expected to face off at a pre-fight press conference. As per usual, “The Notorious” was late to the party.

Khabib and UFC President Dana White, however, started things off on time. The UFC lightweight champ answered a few questions for about 15 minutes. Since McGregor hadn’t shown up by then, the Russian picked up his belt and left the presser. McGregor would show up several minutes later and answer questions.

Many fans were disappointed that they didn’t get to see the fighters face off. For Chael Sonnen, however, he doesn’t think it takes away from the fight (via MMA Junkie):

“We’re in too deep now,” Sonnen said. “These guys have come face to face, they’ve seen each other through windows, they’ve seen each other through television sets, they’ve seen each other at press conference.

“I’m all for meeting up. I think that’s what the company brought them here for today, but no (it doesn’t take away from the fight). Truth be known, we had some fun. It was a good day.”

Sonnen is a former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title challenger. He is currently signed to Bellator MMA and competes in their heavyweight division. Sonnen is a semi-finalist in their Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament to crown the promotion’s next heavyweight champion.

This week, however, Sonnen is working UFC 229 fight week as an analyst for ESPN. When asked for his prediction, Sonnen was straightforward. He’s picking the champion to retain his title:

“I think Khabib beats him,” Sonnen said. “I have multiple reasons to believe that, but look, he has to get through a buzzsaw before he can do that.”