Chael Sonnen likes the idea of a forfeit clause in major mixed martial arts promotions.
This past Saturday night (July 8), Amanda Nunes was set to defend her women’s bantamweight title against Valentina Shevchenko in the main event of UFC 213. Nunes pulled out of the bout with a case of chronic sinusitis. UFC President Dana White said “The Lioness” was cleared to compete, but chose not to.
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Sonnen said a forfeit clause should be in place for situations like this:
“I realize my idea would not work, however, I still share the ideology that we should have a forfeit clause. There’s got to be some time clause, particularly from the weigh-in to the ring. In any other sport you lose and you lose by forfeit. This would never happen in Super Bowl or the NBA.”
He went on to say he isn’t happy that nothing is being done to prevent pullouts.
“It does happen in boxing meets and in wrestling meets. If anything happens to the athlete whereby they don’t step on the mat after the weigh in, they lose by forfeit. There should be some kind of a clause in there. I’m not thrilled about it to tell you the truth.”
