It’s not often that Chael Sonnen criticizes UFC matchmaking, but he’s willing to make an exception for one of UFC 279’s marquee fights.
Following the announcement that Tony Ferguson is moving up to the welterweight division on short notice to meet Li Jingliang for the Sept. 10 pay-per-view, “The American Gangster” stopped by The MMA Hour and made it clear that he isn’t a fan of the matchup.
“I don’t like it,” Sonnen said.
“You want to talk about Charles Oliveira and you want to talk about what a big star he is — they say that him versus [Justin] Gaethje was the biggest pay-per-view of the year, not to mention this year had the heavyweight fight between the [interim] champion and the undisputed [champion], and you’re still telling me that Oliveira-Gaethje was No. 1? Oliveira doesn’t exist, that belt doesn’t exist and the story doesn’t exist, if Tony Ferguson — who was up in the loft — had not dropped the ladder down so that Oliveira could climb up it.
“Now, we’re going back to Ferguson, great story. He’s trading camps, doing different things, and now you’re giving — I don’t know what ‘Leech’ [Jingliang].. I don’t know if that’s his nickname or that’s his name, and I’m not trying to be a dick. It’s a common thing to call someone a leech. I don’t know who Tony Ferguson is opposite or what we should do .”
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The fight is a departure for Ferguson, a former UFC interim champion and longtime contender at 155 pounds who has fallen on hard times of late. “El Cucuy” has dropped four straight contests since his 12-fight win streak met a violent end in 2020. Ferguson lost two out of four fights, with his last loss to Michael Chandler in May. Chandler scored one of the best knockouts this year.
Jingliang, on the other hand, has had an up-and-down road at 170 pounds.
The 34-year-old has gone 2-2 over his past four bouts, losing to Khamzat Chimaev and Neil Magny, but is still known as one of the most dangerous punchers in the division. His four wins have all ended in brutal knockouts that won him bonuses, with his latest bout against Muslim Salikhov on July 7.
But Jingliang has largely been a peripheral figure throughout most of his UFC career, and Sonnen simply doesn’t see the logic in giving him a big-name foe like Ferguson.
“If ‘The Leech’ wins, what happens?” Sonnen argued.
” If Tony wins, that’s great. He gets another fight and he keeps his career. What happens if ‘The Leech wins’? It’s not something I love. It’s not something I love. I don’t think that should’ve been breaking news. There shouldn’t have been a conference. It was not worthy. That’s the kind of fight you’d lay out the card and then you’d just mention it.”
