Ilia Topuria vs Charles Oliveira is the hotly anticipated main event of UFC 317, but one legend has a surprise pick for the winner.
The two former world champions will battle in the main event of UFC 317 for Islam Makhachev’s vacant UFC Lightweight title.
Michael Bisping has predicted that Ilia Topuria will finish Charles Oliveira to become a two-weight champion, while Max Holloway is backing an early knockout in the fight.
However, one UFC legend thinks history will be proven wrong with his surprising prediction for UFC 317.
Chael Sonnen thinks Charles Oliveira will prove history wrong by beating Ilia Topuria
UFC legend Chael Sonnen has surprisingly backed Oliveira to beat Topuria in their main event, going against a lot of experts before UFC 317.
The always controversial ‘Bad Guy’ thinks that the Brazilian will “prove history to be wrong” by knocking out the undefeated Topuria on Saturday.
Sonnen said on his YouTube channel: “History is very clear on this one. You could even bring boxing into it. You’ve got two former world champions who are going to fight.
“The smaller world champion, the guy that comes from his weight class, and the younger of the two wins every time.
“That’s a big word for me to use. Every time. Yes, every time. You will not find an exception to what I just said. And with that said, I’m taking Charles Oliveira.”
He continued and went on to say: “I think this concept of knocking Charles out is novel, but it’s a very difficult thing to do. I’ve seen people get very close. I’ve seen Charles down, I’ve seen referees step in.
“I just think Charles is going to walk through that fire. I’m going to say that history is going to be shown wrong on Saturday. I am taking Charles Oliveira by TKO.”
Sonnen failed to become world champion during his career, but came so close numerous times.
Ilia Topuria can match Conor McGregor by holding these two weight-class belts
If he defies Sonnen at UFC 317, Topuria can match Conor McGregor in becoming a champion in the two weight classes.
Only the Irishman has held the UFC Featherweight and Lightweight titles, becoming the double champion by beating Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205.
However, McGregor’s accomplishments were slightly more impressive, as he held both the UFC Featherweight and Lightweight titles at the exact same time.
He did vacate the Featherweight title without defending it due to inactivity, which makes his status as a double champion functionally similar to Topuria vacating the belt willingly earlier this year.
While Topuria wouldn’t be the double champ, he’d still join McGregor as the only person to hold both title belts in their career.