Chael Sonnen was told about Justin Gaethje replacing Khabib Nurmagomedov against Tony Ferguson at UFC 249
Former UFC star Chael Sonnen revealed that he was told of Justin Gaethje vs Tony Ferguson facing off at 249 but decided not to speak about it.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson was the main event at UFC 249. However, that had to be changed at the last moment due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Khabib is stuck in Russia and cannot fly out, and would not be able to defend his lightweight title. That left Dana White in a bit of a tough situation as he was adamant about holding UFC 249.
Finding a replacement for the fight which is just 11 days away was always going to be tough, but White got someone.
Sonnen was speaking on his YouTube show and added that he knew about this clash pretty early on:
“Gaethje vs Ferguson, I knew it.”
“I knew it, I was given inside information, I was sworn to secrecy and I kept my mouth shut.”
A great fight in the making
The former UFC star also spoke about the match-up between Gaethje and Ferguson, and claimed this was going to be a great clash:
“I love the fight. In many ways, this is a treat.
“Even though you want Khabib vs Tony, but we want to see Tony vs Gaethje too, maybe not in that order.”
Sonnen claimed that people would have preferred to see Khabib vs Tony. However, he didn’t understand why UFC stars only fought only thrice in a year.
He brought this up as Conor McGregor and Gaethje were waiting to face others, and getting Gaethje vs Ferguson is a treat.
There were reports of McGregor taking on Ferguson and Sonnen went on to explain why it didn’t make sense for the Irishman to fight.
Sonnen has spoken about it in the past too as this match “mystified logic”. Gaethje vs Ferguson should be one incredible fight, even though Khabib won’t be there.
It will also be interesting to see who challenges Khabib for the title if Gaethje ends up winning on April 18.
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