Daniel Cormier and Chael Sonnen had opposing views when crowning their Male Fighter of the Year.
Chael Sonnen picked UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (12-2 MMA, 9-1 UFC), who knocked out Jamahal Hill, Jiri Prochazka, and Khalil Rountree in the span of six months. Sonnen credited Pereira for continuously stepping up to save pay-per-view shows.
Cormier praised Pereira for his active and accomplished year, but argued that UFC featherweight champion Ilia Topuria’s back-to-back knockouts over divisional greats Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway hold more weight.
“I don’t know if one of Pereira’s wins or three of Pereira’s wins outweigh in terms of importance the two that Ilia Topuria had,” Cormier said on “Good Guy/Bad Guy” with Chael Sonnen. “Pereira beat two former champions in Jamahal Hill and Jiri, and then he beat a guy in Khalil Rountree, who’s really good and was ranked seventh, right? Went up in the rankings after he lost.”
Cormier elaborated by saying that Volkanovski and Holloway were still very much at the top of their game when Topuria (16-0 MMA, 8-0 UFC) faced them. Topuria handed Holloway the first knockout loss of his career at UFC 308.
“Ilia Topuria beat Alexander Volkanovski, considered one of the greatest featherweights of all time,” Cormier continued. “He’s No. 2 to Jose Aldo and that’s partly because no one will ever go above Jose Aldo because all he did to start the division. He beat Max Holloway, the third best featherweight of all time. In terms of importance, he literally went in one year, Chael, and did away with the last eight years of the division. He went and took care of everybody from 2015 to ’24, all in one year, because from that time to now, it was always Alex Volkanovski or always Max Holloway.
“It is not like those two guys were not fighting at the top of the sport anymore. Volk had just fought Islam (Makhachev) for the lightweight championship and less than a year ago, he had fought him competitively. Max Holloway had just won the BMF title in what is in many people’s opinion, the Knockout of the Year over Justin Gaethje, a guy at 155 pounds, who’s in the top three. He’s beating these greats when they are still in their prime and still fighting at the highest level. So, in terms of importance, in terms of being in there, beating the best back-to-back – but not only beating them, knocking them out, for me it’s Ilia Topuria. Hands down.”
