Outspoken former UFC title challenger turned media/YouTuber Chael Sonnen is no secret to headlines and that hasn't really slowed down too much even after his fighting career came to an end. You guys know I watch his videos, which I actually haven't been doing as much for whatever reason. I just went back and checked and I haven't watched any of his videos in the last 10 days for the purposes of transparency. Now, I'm not complete bozo, I understand the point of his videos. He's doing everything with the intent of getting clicks, views, and for people to write articles about him to keep himself as relevant as possible. Most people view that negatively, I really don't as much. It just is what it is. He's in the YouTube business and if he wants to succeed, then he has to play that game a little bit. It is just the nature of the beast to an extent. I'm not here to tell you that I know more about being a professional MMA fighter than Chael Sonnen because that would be ridiculous. However, he has a very specific approach to things and he likes to project that strategy onto everyone, which I disagree with at times. Anyways, his latest take that took over the news cycle was that Israel Adesanya is in desperate need of Colby Covington to come up and challenge for his title. I don't expect this to be particularly long, but it was just something I thought was an interesting talking point for a day that I don't have a typical, scheduled post structure to go with.
There's kind of a few ways to look at this and I'm not sure how to exactly approach it. I want to do this in a way that does sort of make sense, but I'm sort of going with a stream of consciousness approach on this one. As with most things Chael does, you have to separate what he actually says and what he means. Trying to interpret things people mean is something that annoys me at times because if you are going to put your thoughts out there, you should be careful enough to make sure you're saying what you actually mean to say, but that's just me. Anyways, let's start with what Chael actually said. He said that Israel Adesanya needs Colby Covington. Well, that, at face value, is simply incorrect. Israel Adesanya is widely recognized as the second best pound for pound fighter in the UFC and just signed a new contract to make him one of the highest paid fighters in the promotion. He has 4 successful title defenses on his record and even attempted to become double champ. He's also one of the handful of fighters that the UFC relies to consistently headline PPVs. To say that Israel Adesanya needs anyone at this point is just factually incorrect. He has already risen as high as someone can in this sport and is already on the Mount Rushmore of the middleweight division.
Now, I think anyone who watches Chael's videos with any regularity would be able to translate what he said into what he actually means. Chael is a guy who puts a lot of stress on the build up and promotion of a fight, which if you know anything about his career, makes a lot of sense. I think he cares about that side of things a little too much if you ask me, but, that's just my opinion. What he was implying in his statement is that Israel Adesanya needs some more interesting opponents. That is something I can get behind. Middleweight isn't the most dynamic division right now and Adesanya is ultimately the one that suffers as there doesn't seem like there's much else to really push him. Robert Whittaker is the clear second best fighter in the weight class and Izzy has put him in the rear view mirror for the time being. The Paulo Costa fight was interesting, but with the way Adesanya dominated the fight, there's no real momentum towards a rematch any time soon. This leaves Izzy with options that, while tough, good fighters, aren't going to approach any PPV records. That is where Chael inserts Colby Covington's name. It is important to note that Chael and Colby are friends, so it makes sense that Chael would want to help out someone that he likes, but I don't think he's necessarily wrong either. Colby would most certainly be the most interesting opponent for Izzy in a couple of ways. The first way is the way Chael cares about, which is selling the fight. I really don't care to listen to Colby Covington trip over his words while trying to come up with the most nonsensical comments he can, but apparently there's a lot of people who care about that kind of thing. Everyone loves a fight with some heat on it, but we're talking about real heat. Everything that Colby does to create buzz around the fight is very manufactured, which apparently works I guess. I assume if it didn't actually get more sales then he wouldn't do it, but he still does, so I'll default to assume it does in fact translate to more sales and more money in his pocket. Regardless of that, I do think a fight between Izzy and Colby would sell more than a fight vs Cannonier, Strickland, Brunson, or Till. However, I think that has more to do with the fact that Colby is a good fighter and a tough matchup than what his red hat says or who he voted for.
Colby vs Izzy is a fight that I would have some degree of interest in. I'm not saying that it would be the best fight of all time or that Colby wouldn't have some disadvantages to overcome, but I think that is as interesting a fight as Izzy can make in the immediate future. Obviously, the key to beating Izzy is to take him down and control him on the ground. No one is going to just stand with Izzy and especially not Colby Covington. However, Colby's pressure and wrestling would present a lot of the same skills that Kelvin Gastelum used to give Izzy a lot of problems. There's two issues that I do want to acknowledge though. First, Israel is a much improved fighter since then and I think he is better equipped to deal with those problems now than he was at the time. Additionally, Colby would be at a huge height and reach advantage that he wouldn't be accustomed to. Gastelum isn't a huge guy for middleweight, so there is a blueprint to some degree, but I think that would be a major issue for him.
Overall, I think to say that Israel Adesanya needs Colby Covington is a little ridiculous. Izzy is one of the best fighters in the UFC and one of the biggest stars they have who is competing on a consistent basis. Izzy has done it all and doesn't need anyone at this point in his career. However, he could use another really good or interesting opponent to feud with and I think Colby Covington is as interesting an option as there is right now. He shouldn't skip the line over Jared Cannonier who has earned that title shot the hard way, but after that, I don't think it is an absurd thing. If Colby were to fight for the number one contender spot, I would have very little issue with him getting that opportunity. Colby vs Sean Strickland would in itself be a circus, but if that is the fight they made for the next title shot, I don't think I could have any basis on which to complain about it. What do you guys think? Does Izzy really need Colby? Or is it Colby that needs Izzy? Leave your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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