UFC on Fox 5: Chael Sonnen Picks Nate Diaz, Gustafsson, B.J. Penn to Win

"Sonnen Says" we'll have a new UFC champion this weekend.

More specifically, UFC middleweight star Chael Sonnen knows that Nate Diaz, Alexander Gustafsson and B.J. Penn will win their respective main-card fights at UFC on Fox 5 this Saturday.

UFC president Dana White caught up with Sonnen during the filming of his semi-regular fight week video blog series, this time covering the last month circulating around UFC 154.

The brash title challenger had this to say about the UFC on Fox 5 main event and co-main event:

"

First off, I love both guys. We're going to have a new champion in Nate Diaz. But for me, I can't wait for Gustafsson versus Shogun. Shogun's a legend and Gustafsson's on the rise. I think Gustafsson's gonna have some significant reach, and after his win over Thiago Silva he sure looked good. I'm going to go with Gustafsson in an upset.

"

When asked about Penn vs. Rory MacDonald, however, Sonnen sided with the underdog instead of the skyrocketing prospect:

"

I think [for] B.J. Penn, people need to believe the hype. He's as good as everybody says he is. When a guy retires and comes back to take on a young guy from a new generation, it shows nothing but courage. I'm going with B.J. Penn.

"

Sonnen also picked Mike Swick for his upcoming fight against Matt Brown, citing his impressive win over DaMarques Johnson despite an extremely long layoff after strings of bad injuries. Sonnen noted that he would normally pick Brown, but the fight was way too close to call for sure.