Chael Sonnen fails post fight drug test
Sherdog is reporting that Chael Sonnen failed his post fight drug test following his fight with Anderson Silva. Sonnen and Silva met in the octagon on August 7 to battle for Silva’s Ultimate
Fighting Championship middleweight belt.
Sonnen dominated the fight for the first four rounds and looked like the sure victor until Silva applied a triangle choke. Silva locked the choke on and Sonnen tapped out with less than
two minutes remaining in the fight.
The repercussions of the positive test are not yet clear. The last UFC fighters that tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in California were Sean Sherk and Hermes Franca after
they fought at UFC 73. The result of the positive tests was a one-year suspension as well as fines for both fighters. Sherk later appealed his suspension and it was reduced to six months.
Sonnen is currently scheduled to fight Silva in a rematch on February 6, 2011 in Las Vegas. That fight will be up in the air until the fighters and the UFC hears back from the California
State Athletic Commission regarding the punishment that will be meted out.
UFC President Dana White seemed to be of the mind that the punishment the governing commission hands down would be sufficient. White had this to say, “when one of them fails a test, the
government is going to fine them and suspend them and tell them they can’t make a living for a year. So should I come in after they’ve already lost the ability to make a living for a year and been fined all this money and, in the worst economic disaster in
the history of the world, fine them another huge amount and take away their ability to make a living even longer? What else can you do to a human being?”
Sonnen had not commented on the test results. His manager, Matt Lindland stated that he had no knowledge of the test results.
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