Ilia Topuria is playing everyone like a fiddle.
'El Matador' etched his name in the history books at UFC 317, scoring a sensational first-round finish against Charles Oliveira to claim the lightweight world title, officially becoming a two-division champion.
Thus far, Topuria has not yet booked his first official defense of the 155-pound crown, but there's really only one challenger that makes sense -- Arman Tsarukyan.
9-2 under the UFC banner and sitting on a four-fight win streak, Tsarukyan has more than earned his spot as the division's top-ranked contender. But despite his No. 1 ranking, Topuria has been nothing but dismissive of a potential clash between the two. That has prompted some to label Topuria a coward, but according to Chael Sonnen, it's nothing more than a clever bit of gamesmanship from the 155-pound king.
Ilia is playing you; he's going to fight Tsarukyan next," Sonnen said on his Youtube channel. "Do we need more detail, or can we call it here?
"Ilia said, 'I have no interest in fighting Tsarukyan.' Now, the reason that it's peculiar to me is because fellow 155-pounders are upset, but they're not saying they want to fight him—they're just calling him a coward. This fight is done just so you understand. But guys do have a recipe. They're creatures of habit.
Sonnen recalls Anderson Silva using the same tactic as Ilia Topuria
Sonnen likened the situation to his iconic feud with Anderson Silva, recalling when 'The Spider' would regularly disregard him as the next man up as a way to build hype for their inevitable clash.
When I was having issues with Anderson Silva, it would keep me up at night," Sonnen said. "Anderson was famous, successful, rich, and he didn’t need anybody. I needed him to choose me. I worked hard to get him to choose me. Anderson’s move was to deny the fight as the first step in accepting the fight every single time. He would let the press conference happen, say nothing, and then after the number one contender’s match, he’d deny the fight.
"Let the media run with that. He could get about two weeks of build-up from just denying the fight. Then Anderson would accept the fight, let excitement die down, and then report that he was injured so the fight was off without confirming or denying.
"Ilia does the same thing. He has his own way to build fights. He's a very big star.
