Chael Sonnen explains why Ilia Topuria should have had three belts after UFC 317 win over Charles Oliveira: "There was a mistake made"

Chael Sonnen recently shared his thoughts on the Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway fight at UFC 308 last October and questioned why the BMF title wasn't on the line for that bout.

Topuria recently beat Oliveira via first-round knockout to secure the lightweight title in the main event of UFC 317 in Las Vegas. Despite many doubting his chances at a higher weight class, the Georgian-Spanish fighter put on an impressive performance to become a two-division UFC champion with a perfect 17-0 professional record.

In a recent episode of the Good Guy/ Bad Guy show, Sonnen opined that Topuria should have had three belts in his possession after UFC 317. Claiming that the promotion made "a mistake" by not putting the BMF title on the line for the Holloway fight at UFC 308, he stated:

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"There was a mistake made. The mistake was made to put Ilia in there with the reigning BMF champion and not to put up that belt. That son of a b**ch should have three belts right now... The marketing and the posters are totally different if we had that... Ilia Topuria should have two [belts] over his shoulders and one around his waist."

He continued:

"I really do think that was an error, and I'm glad that error is not going to be made the next time Max fights. I'm glad they are making him put the belt up."

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When Dana White addressed not having BMF belt on the line for Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway at UFC 308

After Ilia Topuria beat Max Holloway at UFC 308 last October, Dana White admitted that he regretted not putting the BMF title on the line for that bout. Despite losing the fight, Holloway held on to the 'Baddest Motherf**ker' title and will defend it against Dustin Poirier at UFC 318 next.

In the UFC 308 post-fight presser, White shared his thoughts on Topuria not having the BMF title strapped around him and said:

"Topuria’s belt was on the line; Max was trying to take that... Halfway through the second round, I said, ‘Sh*t, we should have put the Bad Motherf**ker title up for this fight, too, because these guys are both [BMFs]... I don’t know what we’ll do with it yet, but Max still has it. Max holds the title, so we’ll see what happens." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Watch the full press conference below:

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Edited by Nishant Zende.