Despite his best efforts, recently drawing the ire of UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, UFC President Dana White has said that Chael Sonnen is nowhere near title contention as he is about to enter the promotion’s 205 lb. division.
Sonnen (27-12) will be returning to light heavyweight division after spending seven years as a middleweight. A consensus number-two to Anderson Silva in the 185 lb. division, Sonnen’s second loss to the champion and pound-for-pound king has prompted “The American Gangster” to return to light heavyweight. He will now meet Forrest Griffin at UFC 155 in a rematch of their 2003 bout on the regional circuit, which saw the original Ultimate Fighter champion submit the wrestler.
It seems the bombastic fighter from “the mean streets of West Linn, Oregon,” will have to log some time in the 205 lb. division to have his shot at the gold. White spoke on Sonnen’s title aspirations on the Dave & Mahoney show on X107.5 FM in Las Vegas earlier today:
“He’s a long way away. He’s not coming off the Anderson Silva fight and just talking his way into a 205-pound world title shot. He’s going to have to beat a couple of the best in the world. If he beats Forrest Griffin, we’ll shoot him right into the top 5, let him fight some of those guys there and we’ll see what happens.”
Where exactly Sonnen and his gift of gab fit in the UFC light heavyweight division remains to be seen, but if the Olympic alternate can replicate his success at middleweight, he may find himself in position for a title bout by the end of 2013.
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Chael knows what he is doing. The twitter stuff rattled the champs cage and took away just a little bit of focus on Henderson, who happens to be one of Chael’s good friends. The good ol Kansas City Shuffle.
If chael beat forrest he is in the top 5? I don’t even think Griffin is in the top 10. He hasnt’ beaten anyone with a good name inawhile. He beat tito twice and beat franklin who he dwarfs by decision.
No, I think Dana is just saying that Sonnen’s next fight will be with a top 5 guy.
Yup yup. I like it too. I’ve always like Hendo. I hope he has a decisive win over Jones.
yep, trying to help hendo by bugging jones, and also getting himself in the headlines on the back of a top fighter – again. he’ll fight already descending name fighters outside of the top 5. and retire soon
At least your not hatin’ Russian ;)
Yeah i seriously doubt Sonnen thought he was gonna rattle Bones. If Rashad couldn’t no one can. Its more about the good PR for Sonnen and getting his name thrown into the mix just like he did. Zero to hero in two years, gotta give it to him.
I don’t see why this is even being mentioned. Obviously if he’s fighting Griffin, then he’s not getting an immediate title shot. The scheduled bout with Forrest negates any possibility of that happening. So… where’s the news??
I mean, you could say he’s not getting the NEST title shot, but its already not immediate. Semantics, perhaps, but still.
*Next
^Thats what Im saying OLD NEWS
Thank you Dana! It would be interesting to watch for sure, but, it just would’nt be fair to the guys who put thetime and work into getting there.
Besides…. Machida vs Jones 2, or Machida vs Henderson sounds way better to me at this point. I would like to see Chael at 205 with a top 6-7 guy to see how he looks at the weight class first.
He did get offered