Chael Sonnen, the UFC middleweight contender who nearly defeated champion Anderson Silva in August, tested positive for steroid use the day of the fight, California State Athletic Commission Executive Officer George Dodd said Sunday.
Sonnen will have 30 days to appeal his 1 year suspension and a $2,500 fine. UFC's plans for a Sonnen-Silva rematch on Feb. 6th 2011 in Las Vegas, NV may not take place.
Sonnen received written notification of his positive sample in a letter the athletic commission sent Friday. Dodd said Sonnen’s positive test emerged from a urine sample he gave before the fight that was processed through the UCLA Olympic drug-testing lab.
Sonnen nearly became the first man to beat Anderson Silva since the Brazilian became champion in 2006. Sonnen won all four rounds on the judges scorecards, but was then submitted in the fifth. Sonnen drew attention by trash-talking Silva and UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, and also denied a recording in which he was alleged to have said cyclist Lance Armstrong “gave himself cancer” by using performance-enhancing drugs.
Silva’s manager Ed Soares, who engaged in some heated exchanges via the media in the build up to the fight, was stunned when asked for his reaction. “If it’s true, I feel really bad for him,” said Soares. “I know he did it to himself but it is really sad, he put on such a great performance that night. It is just a shame it will be tarnished.”
The UFC said they will not punish or cut Chael Sonnen. Dana White responds... "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?"
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