Chael Sonnen is not convinced that the recent physique transformation of Conor McGregor is a good thing.
McGregor has been on the sidelines since breaking his leg in the trilogy fight with Dustin Poirier, working to recover from this devastating injury. However, he recently showed that he has made some big gains in this downtime, showing off a massive frame for the former featherweight and lightweight champion.
While some people looked at this as a sign that McGregor is jacked and potentially looking to permanently move to welterweight, Sonnen is not so convinced. Speaking in a video on his YouTube channel, the American Gangster said that this could actually be a bad thing and could potentially be a sign of the Irishman not training as much as he is trying to make people think.
“Conor is chiseled, man. There’s clothing people that pay Conor to wear their stuff. He’s got this fantastic build. That picture of him at 190 [lbs], I can’t give those same compliments. He looked like he was extremely bloated," Sonnen said (h/t MiddleEasy). And when somebody weighs 190 – that’s used to weighing 155, 175; what you have to wonder is how. How did you get this big? Why? The answer to me seems redundantly obvious.
“You’re not training. You cannot train the way you need to prepare in MMA, which we’re well aware. We are well aware that Conor is not. He’s got the hurt leg and he’s not doing what he is used to. He’s not jumping rope. He’s not running. He’s not pulling the sled. He’s not sparring. We get it. He’s having to do other exercises. But that’s always important to know because that’s what Sean’s talking about.
“If you’re not doing our sport, who gives a damn what you weigh? If your calorie deficit to intake got so far out of control, that you’re bigger than you’ve ever been, that’s not a good thing," Sonnen added.
The only way to know if Chael Sonnen is right is to wait and see how Conor McGregor looks when it comes time to get ready for a fight. That said, it certainly appears that the former champ-champ is actively training the best he can, at least according to his social media.
Watch the full video with Chael Sonnen below:
