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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Following his second loss to Anderson Silva, this time by TKO, Chael Sonnen will officially make his move back to the light heavyweight division in December. Not only that, but he'll be taking on a former Champion of that division, who has himself been finished by "The Spider."
That's right, Chael Sonnen will take on Forrest Griffin on the UFC's year-end event. The bout was announced at the end of Tuesday night's "UFC Tonight" program on Fuel TV, which Sonnen was co-hosting with Kenny Florian.
The fight will be Sonnen's first in the UFC's 205 lb. division since his very first fight in the organization seven years ago at UFC 155. He was submitted by Renato "Babalu" Sobral in that fight, prompting a move to middleweight, where he's fought ever since.
With little in the way of title prospects at middleweight following his conclusive defeat in July, Sonnen was mulling a move up, and that move will now indeed come to fruition.
Griffin returns to action after competing on that same card under Silva-Sonnen II in July, where he picked up a decision win over Tito Ortiz, his second win over the UFC Hall of Famer in their three bouts against one another. That win bounced him back from a TKO loss to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua last August.
The booking means Griffin isn't giving much credence to comments made by UFC President Dana White recently, who named Griffin alongside Matt Hughes as fighters he felt should retire from the sport.
The UFC's year-ending event will take place from Las Vegas, Nevada, and will be headlined by a Heavyweight Championship rematch between Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.
Penick's Analysis: Now this is a very interesting fight, and a big one for both Sonnen and Griffin. It's a big name for each of them to face off against, and for Sonnen it's a chance to start over in a new division. It's also a fight between two outed users of testosterone replacement therapy, which I believe is the first time that has happened (at least, as far as outed-users are concerned). Another interesting note about the fight is that it's actually a rematch. Griffin submitted Sonnen by triangle choke all the way back in 2003.
[Chael Sonnen art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
The article inaccurately stated Griffin was the only non-Brazilian to submit Sonnen. He's also been submitted by Jeremy Horn.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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