Chael Sonnen couldn't help but take aim at Daniel Cormier after he claimed Israel Adesanya cannot be compared to Anderson Silva.

Adesanya, 32, returns to the octagon this weekend for a high-stakes rematch with Robert Whittaker.

The New Zealander defends his title at UFC 271 against the man he defeated in 2019.

Having not lost a single fight at 185lbs in his entire career, some have argued the Nigerian-born Kiwi is the greatest of all-time in that division.

But Cormier, who beat the legendary Brazilian back in July 2016, is adamant 'The Last Stylebender' does not deserve such status.

The ex-UFC champion believes Adesanya still has plenty of 'work to do' before he catches up to Silva, and Sonnen has a good reason why.

He said on his YouTube channel: “What in the bleep is Daniel Cormier talking about? There is nothing on that, that is accurate.

"There is no way that Daniel believes it, except Daniel fought Anderson Silva, and would like to pad his own resume so he wants to have beaten the greatest of all time, is all I can think.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 10: Israel Adesanya of Nigeria punches Anderson Silva of Brazil during their Middleweight bout during UFC234 at Rod Laver Arena on February 10, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

"Or, he just didn’t have enough time to think about the question – there is zero truth to it.

"Look, if we are at least down to Adesanya and Anderson we have done a good job as a community.

"Because those are the two. I will tell you this, they fought, and it was a good fight.

"Adesanya won, two rounds to one, everyone saw it the same way as the judges.

"Adesanya won one and three, Anderson won number two, it was a valiant effort by Anderson.

"It was closer than any of us thought it was going to be, it was a great fight.

"But that still answers the question, if you’re being fair."

Sonnen, 44, also took umbrage at Cormier comparing Silva to boxing legend Muhammad Ali.

He added: "It's nothing to do - or at least not solely to do - with resumes.

"If Anderson beat 15 guys, Adesanya does not have to beat 15 guys to take over the spot of greatest of all time.

"In fact, we don't even have to wonder, this is not Khabib vs Georges St-Pierre; they fought.

"This is not debatable. Anderson Silva and Jon Jones was another one. This is not debatable.

"Izzy and Anderson fought. Now you find the right two guys and you saw a very good competition. You see that we're splitting hairs here.

"You got to see just how good Anderson was because Anderson did it back in yesterday when the sport sucked in comparison to now.

"But he also just did that fight four years ago where he kept up, it's a massive sign of success, it's a feather in Anderson's cap. Not to mention Anderson was a three-and-a-half to one underdog. He had an awesome performance.

"But bringing Muhammad Ali into it, that's a weird one for me."