Chael Sonnen opens up on suspension following controversial BJJ bout
Chael Sonnen's two-year suspension for doping from the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC) didn't stop him from competing at Metamoris 4 on Saturday, but there's still an enormous cloud that's sure to follow the popular former UFC fighter around for some time.
Fighting in the Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ) event against the NSAC's wishes on Saturday, Sonnen was submitted by André Galvão via rear-naked choke, in his first action since the suspension, and his subsequent retirement, from mixed martial arts. The fight took place in Los Angeles, but before the fight, the NSAC had threatened to punish Sonnen further if he proceeded with the bout.
The commission has yet to comment publicly on Sonnen's participation, but he was open in discussing the matter with WWE's Chris Jericho on Y2J's Talk Is Jericho podcast on Wednesday.
"We never heard back from [the NSAC]," Sonnen said, highlighting the difference between an MMA "fight" and what he considered "some grappling" in a BJJ forum. "We think they just had some bad info, they heard we were fighting."
With regards to the actual suspension, Sonnen held nothing back, coming clean with an honest and self-aware assessment:
I didn't think I'd be tested for another 44 days. I tried to game the system.
I was hit on a surprise test that was 44 days before a fight. Generally in our business we're tested fight night, so whatever it is you're doing or you're not doing, you gotta show up clean on fight day. When I talk about being dirty, I'm not talking about steroids or illegal drugs. I gotta make this distinction, if you ever failed a drug test, you are automatically taking something illegal and they were steroids, that's just the way it works in people's minds. Well, first off, none of them were illegal, and none of them were steroids, but I never offered a defense. I turned in my prescriptions. I got this from the doctor, this was valid stuff, but, these are still against the rules, I knew it.
Sonnen discussed an array of other topics, too, including his ridiculous ambition of trying to make the U.S. Olympic wrestling team and the slim possibility that WWE would be interested in him (they told him they're not, at present, as good a fit as that may seem).