As noted, former UFC title contender and ESPN analyst Chael Sonnen has parted ways with the UFC and has signed to return to fight for Bellator MMA.
In a release put out by Bellator MMA this week, Scott Coker commented on the promotion signing the gangster from the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon.
“Chael is an incredible athlete that has competed at the very highest levels of the sport,” said the Bellator MMA President “I know that he is going to continue to do just that here at Bellator. When we were in the process of signing him, Chael was adamant that he wants to compete in three divisions here.”
Regarding his return to active competition inside the cage, Coker claims there are fights he is interested in making for “The Bad Guy.” As far as opponents are concerned, Coker mentioned such names as Fedor Emelianenko, Wanderlei Silva, Tito Ortiz and even Rory MacDonald, claiming he could see Sonnen fighting anywhere from the Middleweight to Heavyweight divisions.
“He already has unfinished business with Wanderlei Silva, but he also wants to fight guys like Tito Ortiz, Fedor Emelianenko and even Rory MacDonald at middleweight,” said Coker. “These are all fights that I’d be very inclined to watch, so hopefully we can put some, if not all of these matchups together starting before the end of the year.”
The last time that Sonnen competed in a professional MMA bout was at the UFC 167 pay-per-view event in November of 2013, where he lost to former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans via first-round technical knockout.
Sonnen was scheduled to fight rival Wanderlei Silva in the finals after the season of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil reality show that was airing on UFC Fight Pass and on television in Brazil,, however when tested by USADA, who was just starting to implement the new policy adopted by the UFC, his results came back positive.
The former UFC middleweight and light heavyweight title contender ended up receiving a lengthy suspension and would go on to announce his retirement from MMA. He transitioned into an analyst role at ESPN, launched his weekly “You’re Welcome” podcast at PodcastOne.com and competed in various grappling tournaments.
While nothing has been announced yet regarding when and where Sonnen will return to the cage, it has been said that he will be making his pro fighting return inside the Bellator MMA Cage before the end of the year.
