Chael Sonnen (; born April 3, 1977) is an American sports commentator, mixed martial arts (MMA) analyst, submission grappling promoter, and retired mixed martial artist. Beginning his MMA career in 1997, Sonnen competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he became a top contender in both the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions and challenged for both the UFC Light Heavyweight and UFC Middleweight Championships. Sonnen has also fought in World Extreme Cagefighting, Pancrase, and most recently for Bellator MMA. Sonnen is often considered one of the best mixed martial artists never to have won a major MMA world championship and one of the sport's greatest trash-talkers.
In 2014, Sonnen began working as a MMA analyst for ESPN and two years later, in July 2016, founded Submission Underground (SUG), his own submission grappling promotion. He is currently the lead commentator for Real American Freestyle, a professional freestyle wrestling promotion.
Early life Sonnen was born in either Milwaukie, Oregon, or West Linn, Oregon (sources differ) to Patrick and Claudia Sonnen. Chael grew up wealthy due to his father's successful plumbing and real estate businesses, and describes his upbringing as "great." Sonnen's mother, a former high school teacher, has referred to Chael as a "momma's boy" in his early childhood, and described him as a carefree youth with a contrarian streak.
With his father, uncles, and older cousins all having wrestled themselves, Chael began began wrestling at age nine and showed early potential. Starting in his teenage years, Sonnen began receiving private coaching by future Olympic Greco-Roman silver medalist and UFC title challenger Matt Lindland, who had worked as a plumber's assistant in his father's company. He attended West Linn High School, where he was an Oregon state runner-up. At one point in his high school wrestling tenure, Sonnen would wrestle Lindland in the first round of the Sunkist International Open, losing what both describe as a dominant match. In 1996, Sonnen began training in boxing and kickboxing, having hoped to compete in the UFC since high school and intending to transition sports after the end of his collegiate wrestling career.
After high school, Sonnen first attended Brigham Young University, before transferring to the University of Oregon in Eugene, after BYU began considering cutting its wrestling program. At the University of Oregon, Sonnen earned NCAA Division I All-American honors and was a two-time PAC-10 runner-up, a silver medalist at the 2000 Greco-Roman World University Championships, and a two-time Dave Schultz Memorial International Greco-Roman winner. He graduated from the University of Oregon in 2001, with a Bachelor of Science degree in sociology.
Mixed martial arts career
Early career Sonnen started his mixed martial arts career in 1997 at the age of 19, by defeating Ben Hailey in Vancouver, Washington. According to Sonnen, his mother videotaped the fight and his father became an avid supporter of Sonnen's MMA career after watching it. Sonnen would join Team Quest - a pioneering MMA training center in Portland founded by Randy Couture, Dan Henderson, and Matt Lindland - soon after its opening in 2000.
Five years after his debut, he defeated future ICON Sport Middleweight Champion and Strikeforce Middleweight contender Jason "Mayhem" Miller. He won four more straight fights that year, before his first professional loss to Trevor Prangley. In late 2003, he was submitted by future Ultimate Fighter winner and UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Forrest Griffin with a triangle choke submission maneuver.
Ultimate Fighting Championship Sonnen made his UFC debut in a Light Heavyweight bout against former IFC Light Heavyweight Champion Renato Sobral at UFC 55, submitting to a second-round triangle choke. He then avenged his first loss, by winning a unanimous decision over Trevor Prangley at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 4. At UFC 60, he fought Jeremy Horn for the third time and submitted to an armbar. Shortly after, he was released from the UFC.
Bodog Fight In May 2006, Sonnen debuted for Bodog Fight, defeating Tim Credeur via TKO. He went on to win a unanimous decision over Alexey Oleinik, defeat Tim McKenzie in 13 seconds with a D'arce choke, and finish UFC and PRIDE veteran Amar Suloev via TKO. After leaving Bodog, Sonnen defeated future Ultimate Fighter member Kyacey Uscola at SuperFight 20: Homecoming.
World Extreme Cagefighting In December 2007, Sonnen fought Paulo Filho for the WEC Middleweight Championship. Sonnen lost via a controversial submission at 4:55 of the second round. Sonnen did not tap out but screamed in pain, which the referee interpreted as a verbal submission. In his post-fight interview, Sonnen said he told the referee not to stop the fight, and continually said "No" when the referee asked if he wanted to submit. Keith Kizer, executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, claimed Sonnen only yelled "No" after the referee stopped the fight. Kizer and Dana White (who was watching ringside) both agreed with the call.
A rematch was scheduled for March 26, 2008, but was cancelled after Filho entered a drug rehabilitation program. Sonnen instead faced undefeated contender Bryan Baker and dominated him for three rounds to win a unanimous decision (30–26, 30–25, and 30–25). Sonnen and Filho eventually met again on November 5, 2008. Filho appeared distracted throughout the bout, and Sonnen took advantage winning all three rounds to win the fight via unanimous decision. Prior to the fight, Filho weighed in almost seven pounds over the 185-pound limit, so the bout was ruled a non-title match. After Filho lost, he announced he would ship Sonnen the championship belt.
Return to the UFC Following the dissolution of WEC's middleweight division, Sonnen returned to the UFC.
In his first fight for the promotion since UFC 60, he was submitted by jiu-jitsu ace Demian Maia via triangle choke submission at UFC 95.
At UFC 98 in May 2009, Sonnen defeated Dan Miller via unanimous decision. He was a late replacement for Yushin Okami, who tore a ligament while training. He took the fight on 22 days' notice, and lost in order to compete.
In his next fight, at UFC 104, Sonnen outwrestled Okami for a unanimous decision victory.
Sonnen was expected to face Nate Marquardt at UFC 110, but the fight was moved to UFC 109 on February 6. Sonnen won a unanimous decision, after escaping two deep guillotine chokes in the first and third rounds. With the victory, Sonnen became the number one contender for the UFC Middleweight Championship.
Silva vs. Sonnen At UFC 117 on August 7, 2010, Sonnen challenged Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight Championship. Sonnen had trash talked to hype the fight, stating he was going to retire Silva. Sonnen put on a dominant performance, stunning Silva early with his boxing, and then dominating the fight with his wrestling, heading into the fifth round, Sonnen was ahead on the judges' scorecards (40–34, 40–36, and 40–35). At 3:10 into the final round, Silva caught Sonnen in a triangle armbar and made him tap out. In a later interview, Sonnen stated it was the choke, not the armbar, that made him submit. The fight earned both fighters Fight of the Night honors, and was considered to be the best fight of the year by many critics. The fight was later awarded 'Fight of the Year' by World MMA Awards.
CSAC suspensions and appeals Urinalysis conducted after his loss to Anderson Silva showed Sonnen had an unallowably high testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio of 16.9:1 at the time of the fight. An average man has a T/E ratio of 1:1, and testing bodies may allow a ratio as high as 4:1 for athletes undergoing TRT treatment. In other words, Sonnen's T/E ratio was nearly 17 times than a normal man's and over four times the allowed maximum for an athlete. He was fined $2,500 and suspended for one year (until September 2, 2011) by the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC). His scheduled rematch with Silva was subsequently cancelled.
Initial appeal Sonnen appealed the CSAC's decision. The hearing was held on December 2, 2010. The principal grounds of his appeal were that he had a medical justification for taking testosterone, and he believed he had taken the necessary steps to disclose the condition and its treatment to the CSAC. He testified he had been diagnosed with hypogonadism in 2008 and was undergoing testosterone replacement therapy (TRT), self-injecting synthetic testosterone two times a week. Sonnen's physician, Dr. Mark Czarnecki, was present at the hearing and attested to these claims.
In his sworn testimony, Sonnen claimed to have been previously approved for TRT by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC), and to have spoken directly to NSAC's Executive Director, Keith Kizer, who informed him he was approved for TRT and should not again disclose the treatment on the pre-bout medical disclosure statements required by the NSAC. He said he believed this advice about disclosure also applied to the forms of other state athletic commissions. He said he had previously disclosed his condition to the CSAC before his UFC 104 bout with Yushin Okami, which took place in Los Angeles on October 24, 2009. Based on his testimony, the CSAC voted to recharacterize Sonnen's transgression as a failure to properly disclose a medical treatment, and correspondingly reduced his suspension from twelve months to six, ending March 2, 2011.
Keith Kizer publicly responded to Sonnen's testimony, claiming the NSAC had never approved Sonnen for TRT, Sonnen had never applied for the approval process, and he had "never talked to Chael Sonnen in [his] life." At a subsequent meeting between the UFC, Sonnen and the NSAC, Kizer asked Sonnen about his testimony at the December 2, 2010, CSAC hearing. According to Kizer, Sonnen initially deflected his questions but, when pressed further, admitted no conversation between Kizer and himself had occurred. Sonnen explained "My manager and you talked about therapeutic exemptions, and therefore, I just used the wrong word. I should have said 'my' instead of 'I.' As in 'my manager' instead of 'I'". Kizer called this a "strange story" and a "ridiculous explanation" Kizer acknowledged speaking with Sonnen's manager (Matt Lindland) about TRT, but said the conversation concerned only the procedure itself, not the application of any particular fighter.
CSAC Executive Director George Dodd has also contradicted Sonnen's testimony, stating the CSAC has no documentary evidence of Sonnen ever being approved for TRT.
Subsequent suspension by CSAC Sonnen's abbreviated CSAC suspension expired on March 2, 2011. However, in the third week of April 2011, the CSAC announced it had reversed its decision to lower his sentence, and had placed him on indefinite administrative suspension due to his conviction for money laundering (see below) and his possibly false testimony during the hearing of December 2, 2010. Sonnen appeared before the CSAC on May 18, 2011, requesting the suspension be lifted. After hearing testimony from Keith Kizer via streaming video, as well as from Sonnen and his supporters, the CSAC voted 4–1 to uphold the suspension. Two days later, the CSAC clarified that the applicable regulations only allowed Sonnen to be suspended until his existing license expired (on June 29, 2011). If Sonnen applied for a new license after June 29, 2011, he would have to reappear before the CSAC, which could deny the application.
Second return to the UFC After his suspension, Sonnen returned to the UFC on October 8, 2011, defeating Brian Stann with a second round arm triangle choke at UFC 136.
Sonnen was expected to face Mark Muñoz on January at UFC on Fox 2, but Muñoz was injured and replaced by Michael Bisping. Sonnen was awarded the unanimous decision (30–27, 29–28, and 29–28) victory after three rounds.
Silva vs. Sonnen II