Conor McGregor only fought once in 2020 but that was enough for Chael Sonnen to include the Irishman in his list of top 5 fighters
Chael Sonnen waded into some deep waters as he brought up his list of top 5 fighters in 2020. The monologue started after Marvin Vettori claimed he should be the fighter of the year thanks to his exploits.
The Italian made weight thrice, won both his fights and moved up 10 spots in the rankings. While Sonnen didn’t agree with the Italian Dream, he was happy to bring up a barometer to discuss who the best should be.
Sonnen’s list certainly featured some big names with Valentina Shevchenko coming in fifth. Third was Khamzat Chimaev for moving up the rankings and well, rising in the UFC so quickly.
Second was Stipe Miocic for defeating his arch-nemesis in Daniel Cormier and keeping the belt, in what was going to be a tough fight.
First was Deiveson Figueiredo and it is difficult to argue that given how dominant The God of War has been as the UFC Flyweight champion.
However, #4 was Conor McGregor despite the Irishman fighting just once in the year.
Money makes the world go round
Sonnen did say that some would be surprised by his suggestion but explained why McGregor was picked.
The Irishman defeated Donald Cerrone easily in his UFC return after losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov, but it was the ticket sales that caught Sonnen’s attention:
“Numbers don’t lie. Numbers simply don’t lie.
“Conor fought January 20th, 2020. Tickets went on sale and they lasted for less than two days.
“Completely sold out, $10million+ gate which comes in as the fourth largest gate in UFC history.
“Spots one, two and three, all held by Conor McGregor. So the only record he didn’t beat was his own record.”
He also claimed that McGregor wasn’t touched in the fight, which lasted 40 seconds, and Cerrone was down after 19 hits from the Irishman.
The Irishman certainly was impressive in his only outing and his ability to sell tickets is second to none in the UFC.
Sonnen adding him to the list of top five fighters of 2020 is a bit of a stretch but the ticket sales is a huge factor that the UFC needs.
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