by King Hazard
Chael Sonnen is back! “The Bad Guy” is going to be fighting in Bellator MMA very soon, possibly before the end of the year.
Last week, Sonnen signed an exclusive multi-fight contract with Bellator, but it’s attached to serious provisions which could cost Sonnen a hefty price if he fails his next drug test. Sonnen could face a $500,000 fine and lose “100 percent” of his fight purse.
In July, Sonnen completed his two-year suspension from the Nevada Athletic Commission for failing two out-of-competition tests for his UFC 175 fight against Wanderlei Silva in 2014, which never came to fruition. He tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, so Bellator’s strict new contract is meant to punish him good.
Sonnen said,
If I was to fail a test under my Bellator contract, it would cost me 100 percent of my purse and $500,000. That is in writing. Now, I understand for you guys, that’s not as good as a clean test, but boy, that’s got to mean something. If you think I didn’t read that part of it before I signed it, I did.
I don’t know if that was unique to me or if that was boilerplate and everybody’s got it. I don’t know, but I saw that. That’s before you deal with your commission issues and everything else, but it was right off the top: full purse, $500,000. That’s just to Bellator. That’s before we start dealing with commissions, and again, I don’t know if that was boilerplate or if they set that aside for me. But I’m on the other side of the tracks now, and you wouldn’t believe it if you saw it, I’ve still got the biggest arms in the business.
At the moment, Sonnen doesn’t have an opponent set in stone yet, but it appears like he is targeting a fight with Tito Ortiz in November. Let’s just hope Sonnen keeps off his old habits so we can see him fight soon again.
Let us know what you think about Sonnen’s contract in the comment section below.
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