Chael Sonnen’s latest outlandish take surrounds former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
2025 could mark a huge year in the career of Oliveira. Three years on from his most recent title fight, the Brazilian fan favorite will soon have another opportunity to regain champ status.
With Islam Makhachev stepping down from the throne and moving to welterweight, it was recently announced that Oliveira and Ilia Topuria will fight for the vacant lightweight crown.
The first title reign of ‘Do Bronx’ came to a disappointing end when he missed weight prior to defeating Justin Gaethje. Oliveira was stripped of the UFC title and unable to win it back against ‘The Highlight’ at UFC 274.
But according to Sonnen, the removal of Oliveira as champion was not entirely lawful.
Chael Sonnen doesn’t think Charles Oliveira should have been stripped of the UFC lightweight title
During a video uploaded to his YouTube channel, ‘The Bad Guy’ reacted to Makhachev’s impending title vacation.
The topic of belts being taken away outside of the cage brought Sonnen back to Oliveira’s Arizona weigh-in debacle back in 2022.
Sonnen is never one to shy away when it comes to broadcasting some debatable opinions, but he said that topic is one which he was told to steer clear of for “legal” reasons.
“I got told by a great advisor, ‘Stop talking about this!’ It was the night that Charles Oliveira lost the world championship to the scale,” Sonnen said.
“I researched the rules and bylaws. I, to this day, do not believe there was authority in place to strip Charles Oliveira. … I was told, ‘Chael, this isn’t a topic people care about. You’ve gotta move on.’ I couldn’t. I stayed on here for weeks.
“But there was very legal implications that came with whether you’re defending your belt or participating in a title match as a whole or what is going to be next for Charles.”
Charles Oliveira’s UFC record since losing the title
As soon as the bell rang for Oliveira’s UFC 274 main event against Gaethje, he was no longer the lightweight kingpin.
But that didn’t stop him from delivering the goods inside the Octagon and ensuring that his next bout would provide an opportunity for redemption.
After choking out ‘The Highlight’, however, Oliveira suffered a first defeat in five years and 11 fights at the hands of Makhachev in Abu Dhabi.
‘Do Bronx’ has exchanged wins and losses since, most recently getting the better of Michael Chandler for a second time to secure his place in one side of the UFC 317 headliner on June 28.
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event | Date |
| Win | Michael Chandler | Decision | UFC 309 | November 16, 2024 |
| Loss | Arman Tsarukyan | Decision | UFC 300 | April 13, 2024 |
| Win | Beneil Dariush | TKO | UFC 289 | June 10, 2023 |
| Loss | Islam Makhachev | Submission | UFC 280 | October 22, 2022 |
| Win | Justin Gaethje | Submission | UFC 274 | May 7, 2022 |
Oliveira will now look to string together consecutive triumphs and add a win streak to his UFC record for the first time since submitting Gaethje in 2022.
Such a feat would also see him crowned a two-time UFC lightweight champion and become the first blemish on Topuria’s currently perfect record.