The next chapter in the Chael Sonnen began yesterday. Sonnen’s suspension is over and in his own words on Twitter, “I can finally get back to the most important thing in my life. Defending my Middleweight Championship.”
The Chael Sonnen saga is probably up to chapter 12 at this point. Between his positive PED test, his suspension, his legal proceedings, his re-suspension, his decision reversal, etc, etc it just never seemed to end. Sonnen’s CSAC suspension is now officially over. The new chapter will see whether Sonnen can get licensed to fight in the United States and whether the UFC forces him to reapply in California.
Sonnen can get licensed in other states without having to go back to California and face the music. Josh Barnett is a prime example of this. Texas is a state with a very loose commission that would almost definitely issue Chael a license. Of course he could always fight on one of the UFC international events as well without having to go through California.
[adinserter block=”1″]Sonnen’s career was virtually over or at least according to him it was when he lost a hearing a few weeks ago in California to get reinstated. The CSAC turned him down and told him that he would be ineligible to reapply again until June 2012. However, the board later reversed their decision citing a misunderstanding in the rule in question. It should be pointed out though if Chael does decide to revisit California and lose a new hearing, he would indeed be ineligible to reapply for another year.
Sonnen wasted no time gloating in the news on Twitter. Sonnen tweeted to his 41,994 followers, “I can finally get back to the most important thing in my life. Defending my Middleweight Championship.” Yes even a failed PED test, a suspension, and a guilty plea as part of a mortgage fraud case aren’t enough to humble this man.
CSAC executive officer George Dodd told MMAfighting.com, “He’s back as far as he may be able to get licensed in other states,” Dodd said. “Whether he’s back is up to each individual organization to license him. I guess if he says he’s back he’s probably back into training, but I don’t know if he’s been licensed in any other state.”
Sonnen has kept himself busy on Twitter over the last few months. Sonnen has attempted to start Twitter wars with everyone from Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, Michael Bisping, Wanderlei Silva, and Jason Miller. He has specifically taken a real interest in Wanderlei Silva who isn’t amused.
“Sonnen… I kill him. I kill him fast. This guy talks a lot of bulls***, he talks s*** about a lot of fighters,” Silva told MMA Fighting.
I loved Sonnen’s UFC 117 promos but at this point he just comes off rather pathetic. I really have no interest in listening to a guy that choked in his last fight and is now a proven liar and fraud talk trash on Twitter to fighters who like them or not, haven’t failed PED tests, haven’t taken part in a scam ripping off unsuspecting home buyers, and have better win/loss records than Sonnen. It is really old hat if you ask me.
The next move will be a real interesting one. If Sonnen is the man of integrity he likes you to believe he is, he will go back to California and face that monster head on. I don’t see that coming. Although, Dana White has said that he wouldn’t commission shop for Sonnen so whether he makes Chael go back to California before he books him for another fight is a real interesting story to keep your eyes on.
Dodd predicts that Sonnen won’t have an issue getting licensed in other states. “I’m pretty sure he’ll probably be able to get licensed in other states. That was his interpretation, I believe, of his contract with the UFC, and that was a big blow to him that he couldn’t do that at that time. But to say that he’s out of it, that was his interpretation, not ours.”
This news also comes during a week in which Dana White fired Nate Marquardt for testing positive for the same PED that Sonnen did. White did tell someone on Twitter that Nate has had numerous chances, but will he bend over backwards for Sonnen after firing a main-event fighter so soon?
[adinserter block=”1″]I don’t even know what you do with Chael Sonnen at this point. Anderson Silva, Yushin Okami, Michael Bisping, Jason Miller, and Wanderlei Silva are already booked in future fights and would be unavailable to fight Sonnen for at least five-six months. Vitor Belfort could be a real interesting matchup and would certainly play into Sonnen’s anti-Brazil rants, but he is booked. Lyoto Machida is free but they fight in different divisions.
UFC middleweight fighter Brian Stann is another interesting name and to my knowledge, he isn’t booked for any future UFC events. Could you imagine the nerve of Chael cutting promos on someone as honorable as Stann? Sign me up!
I am also real interested to see how the promotion for his next fight goes. Chael hasn’t shut up about anyone and will likely do the same trash talking to build up his next fight as he did for his fight with Anderson Silva. I am real curious to see if his opponents are muzzled otherwise they can air his dirty laundry for hours. I can’t imagine the UFC ordering their fighters to keep Chael’s personal issues off interviews considering that Sonnen has never shown any boundaries when talking about opponents.
Stay tuned for chapter 13!
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