Chael Sonnen believes he knows the perfect next fight for Kamaru Usman.
The former UFC welterweight champion Usman (21-4 MMA, 16-3 UFC) snapped a nearly four-year winless streak last Saturday with a dominant five-round decision over Joaquin Buckley in the main event at UFC Atlanta.
With newly crowned welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena (18-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) expected to defend his title later this year against former lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, Usman has thrown his name into the mix, expressing interest in facing the winner.
Sonnen, however, isn’t convinced Usman will be next in line for a title shot. Instead, he’s proposed that Usman face undefeated contender Shavkat Rakhmonov (19-0 MMA, 7-0 UFC) in a No. 1 contender bout.
Rakhmonov last fought at UFC 310, where he defeated Ian Machado Garry by decision. Although many expected the Kazakh standout to be the next title challenger, a serious knee injury has kept him sidelined. In his absence, the title changed hands when Della Maddalena defeated Belal Muhammad.
Rather than have Usman sit idle while the title picture unfolds, Sonnen suggested he return against Rakhmonov—a matchup that could determine the next challenger for the belt at 170 pounds.
"I think one strategy, because I do believe Shavkat to be the true No. 1 contender," Sonnen said on "Good Guy/Bad Guy" with Daniel Cormier. "I do believe when Shavkat comes back, he's probably going to walk right into a title fight, and I do believe between Islam and Jack, I think Shavkat is the alpha male in that room. I just think he’s the right size, and I think he matches up really well. I offer you that, because I think that Kamaru could come out publicly and start going after Shavkat, saying let me fight him. 'Let me fight him for a No. 1 contendership,' of which if he won, I think he would be granted.
"But even absent of getting that fight, should Shavkat walk right into a title fight, Usman's now still aligning himself with one of the top two guys. I think strategy-wise, if he could align himself properly with Shavkat, and nobody's going to ask for that job. Nobody out there's going to ask to fight Shavkat. If he could come in and somehow get some business with him, it could pay off big."
