American Cheil Sonnen became famous as an MMA fighter. He was twice a contender for the UFC championship belt, but never received the coveted title. In June 2019, Chale announced that he would no longer enter the ring as a fighter. He now works as an MMA analyst for the cable TV channel ESPN.
The beginning of a sports career
Chale Sonnen was born in Milwaukee, Oregon in 1977. From an early age, he was fond of wrestling. And in 1996, Chale (at that time he was attending college in West Lynn to become a sociologist) began boxing.
In May 1997, Sonnen won his first victory in mixed martial arts - over Ben Haley. And after that, he had several more successful fights in various promotions - with Jason Miller, Jesse Olt, Scott Shipman and Justin Hayes.
Sonnen suffered his first defeat in January 2003. His opponent, a South African fighter named Trevor Prangley, already in the first round performed a painful hold called an armbar or elbow lever, and Sonnen was forced to surrender.
Sonnen's performances from 2005 to 2008
On October 7, 2005, Sonnen made his first appearance in the UFC light heavyweight division. In his debut duel, he was put to fight against the Brazilian Renato Sobral. Chale lost this fight. But his next appearance at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 4 ended in triumph. Here he again met in the octagon with the previously mentioned Trevor Prangley and was able to avenge his defeat in 2003.
Cheil did not manage to stay at UFS for long. Already in May 2006, he became a fighter in the Bodog Fight promotion. In the first fight in the framework of this promotion, he confidently defeated Tim Kroeder by technical knockout. Then he defeated Russian Alexei Oleinik, American Tim Mackenzie (this fight, by the way, lasted only 13 seconds) and another Russian Amar Suloev.
Soon Chale Sonnen changed promotions again and began performing under the auspices of the World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) organization. In December 2007, Sonnen fought Paulo Filho for the WEC middleweight title. And in the end, he lost with a painful hold five seconds before the end of the second round. The referee stopped the fight, although Sonnen later said that he answered no to the referee's question about whether he wanted to surrender.
A rematch between Filho and Sonnen was scheduled for March 26, 2008. However, it had to be canceled after Filho was admitted to the clinic for drug abuse.
Sonnen and Filho were able to measure their strength only on November 5, 2008. And in this fight Sonnen won by unanimous decision of the panel of judges. But this fight was not recognized as a champion, since when weighing in it turned out that Filho weighed almost seven pounds more than the limit mark of his weight category. This, however, did not stop Filho from announcing after the defeat that he would give Sonnen the champion belt.
Return to the UFC and the doping scandal
At the end of 2008, World Extreme Cagefighting canceled Sonnen's weight class, and he again signed a contract with the UFC. In his first fight since returning to UFC 95, he lost to Demian Maia, with a choke hold. Sonnen defeated Dan Miller at UFC 98 in May 2009. In his next fight, at UFC 104, Sonnen, by unanimous decision of the three judges, was stronger than Japanese Yusin Okami.
Sonnen fought Nate Marquardt at UFC 109 on February 6, 2010, and eventually won by decision. After that, he became the main contender for the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title. And in August 2010, at UFC 117, he entered the octagon against then-title holder - Brazilian Anderson Silva.
Throughout the fight, Sonnen was significantly in the lead, and the judges gave him more points in their cards. But in the last round, Silva captured Sonnen in the "triangle" and forced him to knock on the canvas (the so-called octagon flooring) as a sign of surrender. It should be noted that this fight was recognized as the "Fight of the evening", and then the "Fight of the Year".
As always, after the fight, the fighters were tested for doping. And this test showed that Sonnen's T / E ratio (testosterone and epitestosterone) was 16.9: 1. And this is about four times the maximum allowable level.
As a result, Sonnen was fined $ 2,500 and suspended from fighting for one year.
Sonnen in recent years
When the period of suspension ended, Sonnen continued to play in the UFC. On October 8, 2011, he entered the Octagon at the next promotion event (UFC 136) and defeated Brian Stenn by triangle choke. And then at UFC on FOX 2, he beat Michael Bisping. This victory gave Sonnen the right to once again become a contender for the championship belt and fight Silva for the second time.
This rematch, scheduled for July 7, 2012, has received a lot of attention from the audience. Many analysts have called this fight one of the most anticipated in UFC history.
But in the end it lasted only two rounds. At the beginning of the first round, Sonnen skillfully turned the fight to the ground and found himself in a dominant position there. But nothing significant was achieved in this position.
In the next round, Chale at some point tried to unexpectedly hit the opponent with the back of his fist from a turn, but missed. Silva took advantage of this situation and eventually won by TKO. Sonnen never became UFC champion.
Until the end of 2013, he managed to hold three more successful fights, and in the summer of 2014 it was reported that the UFC management terminated the contract with Sonnen due to his failed drug tests.
In September 2016, Chale entered into an agreement with the Bellator promotion. In January 2017, he made his debut fight in Bellator against Tito Ortiz and, unfortunately, lost.
Soon after, Sonnen gained weight and moved into a new category - became a heavyweight. Quinton Jackson became his first rival here. The fight with him took place in January 2018 and ended with a convincing victory for Sonnen.
His next opponent was the famous Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor, already in the first round, unleashed a powerful series of punches on Cheil, and he could not get up and continue the resistance. The referee stopped the fight ahead of schedule.
After that, Sonnen had only one more fight - against Lyoto Machida. It took place on June 14, 2019 in New York and Sonnen was defeated here again. After the fight, he told reporters about his decision to end his sports career.
Personal life
Sonnen is married to Brittany in July 2013. On June 4, 2015, their first child was born in their family - a boy named Thero.
Brittany then became pregnant with Chale a second time. During this pregnancy, Brittany somehow (most likely eating food contaminated with bacteria) contracted a listeriosis infection, which in turn caused a premature birth. On August 17, 2016, a girl was born, ten weeks ahead of schedule. A dangerous infectious disease was transmitted to her from her mother, and four days later, despite all the efforts of the doctors, the newborn died.
