Part of every fight fan had to have been disappointed to see Chael Sonnen have his fighter’s license suspended indefinitely, needing to go through the process again to see if he’ll ever fight again in California and by proxy the rest of the United States. He’s always game for a fight and his pre-fight trash talk is always creatively colorful. In a sport where fighters can be bland he’s always good for a quote and is a charismatic star in a fight game where charisma runs low but guts run high.
He claimed at the time that he’d be effectively retired if he couldn’t get his license back and it’s easy to believe him at this time. If he can’t be licensed in California and Nevada odds are he won’t be licensed anywhere else unless a miracle happens. The one thing the UFC has always been good at is avoiding the boxing phenomena of state athletic commission shopping to get a fight sanctioned, if only so that they maintain a level of good will with the athletic commissions to whom they are beholden.
So without a license, and a felony conviction for what amounts to advanced mortgage fraud, Sonnen’s options are hamstrung unless he can get his license back. There’s only person he can blame in all of this: Himself. But there’s something else he can point fingers at if it’ll make him happy: boxing.
Through all of his double talk, much of it entertaining, and his eventual apology and attempt at making amends the one thing left to say about Sonnen and his career is that it’s nearly effectively over at this point. If this was boxing it probably would be the opposite; this is the same group of people who let convicted rapist Mike Tyson fight even after the incident where he bit Evander Holyfield’s ear mid-fight. He fought and was licensed until he quit on his stool, which seems patently absurd in hindsight.
But MMA isn’t like boxing and Dana White isn’t Don King in one aspect: there’s a much higher standard put on professional cage fighters than there is professional boxers at the highest of levels.
That’s ultimately what got Chael his suspension and perhaps retirement due to being unable to get a fighter’s license in the United States. With his felony conviction he’ll be unable to leave the country on his own for a fight, needing to permission to do so through the courts, so his ability to be like Josh Barnett and fight abroad without having an active American fighter’s license will be stymied. At this point being cut from the UFC is a massive possibility as he won’t be able to fight for a job that requires him to do so. Being able to fight in the U.S becomes that much more of a hassle as companies like Bellator and Shark Fights don’t have the resources to get him licensed like the UFC does.
It shows something more, though. If Sonnen can’t get relicensed, despite time and apologies, then MMA fighters are shown a massive example of the need to live a much cleaner lifestyle at a minimum … or work on ways to not get caught in the illegal activities they might engage in for the cynical at heart. That’s not a bad thing and ultimately will prove out to be good for the sport as MMA won’t get the same level of disrepute that a guy like Antonio Margarito brought to an already tarnished sport.
Margarito loaded his gloves in fights (having plaster of paris in his hand wraps to give him more punching power and thus an advantage), finally being caught and punished with a year’s suspension. How was he punished? A year’s suspension and the eventual reward with a big money fight against Manny Pacquiao in Texas (which licensed him after California refused to do so). The fact that he gets a chance to fight again and Sonnen doesn’t shows that the UFC won’t go to those lengths to get a great fighter in the cage that a boxing promoter like Don King would.
You know for certain that King would pull out any stop to get a world class boxer his license back. Say what you want about the business decisions of the UFC but they never do anything illegal or unethical to get a fighter licensed or a fight sanctioned. If Dana White had a little bit of Don King in him he’d get him sanctioned in Texas in a month, once his suspension is up, and Sonnen-Silva II would take place at the UFC card in Houston alongside Cain Velasquez’s first title defense. But he doesn’t, and won’t, and that’s good for the sport.
Sonnen’s lies back in December has forced the athletic commissions of California and Nevada to make an example of him. As much as Sonnen ought to be in the cage, to show the world if his near domination of Anderson Silva wasn’t a fluke, if it means that MMA doesn’t descend into the levels that boxing has fallen to it’s a good thing.
