Did The UFC Harm Topuria’s Legacy?

Chael Sonnen says that the UFC made a mistake by not allowing Ilia Topuria to hold three belts. 

Sonnen’s comments arrive in the aftermath of Topuria’s KO win over Charles Oliveira AT 317. The win made him the lightweight champion, adding the previous featherweight title he secured after stopping Alexander Volkanovski. However, Topuria could also have had the BMF belt when he faced Max Holloway. Topuria knocked out Holloway to give him his first stoppage loss. But the BMF belt was not on the line, as Holloway puts it forward against Dustin Poirier in his next fight. Sonnen felt that was a major error on the UFC’s part. 

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“There was a mistake made and the mistake was made to put Ilia in there with the reigning BMF champion and not to put up the belt. That son of a b—- should have three belts right now and we’re having a totally different talk right now if he does. The marketing and the posters are totally different if we had that, but we gotta follow it to a tee.

“The belt’s either up or it’s not. The way the story gets told about Max, everybody likes Max and respects Max and we know how great he was, there’s more to it. He was the reigning BMF champion. Ilia Topuria should have two over his shoulder and one around his waist and I really do think that that was an error,” Sonnen said 

The UFC may face further backlash if they do not make the Topuria vs. Makhachev fight. That is especially if Islam wins the welterweight title in his expected fight with Jack Maddalena. A third belt allows Topuria the chance to go down is history by doing something no one has done. That would legitimately put him in the conversation for the greatest of all time. Dana White often uses that label on Jon Jones. However, Jones’ prior failed tests, coupled with his failure to fight Tom Aspinall has left an asterisk over his resume. Topuria, however, has the opportunity to create his own legacy.