Sonnen may still be in his prime taking on Rua
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
With losses in three of his last fights, fans may look at 36-year-old Chael Sonnen and think the Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran is nearing the end of his career.
A closer examination, however, shows Sonnen may still be in his prime. The three losses all came in championship bouts — to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in 2010 and back-to-back losses to Silva and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in the past 13 months. During the first loss to Silva in 2010, Sonnen appeared to dominate the fight and likely would have won the decision had Silva not pulled off an unlikely submission with less than two minutes remaining.
Sonnen, who moved to light heavyweight for the title bout with Jones, will make his last appearance at the weight Saturday against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua in the main event of UFC on FOX Sports 1 at the TD Garden in Boston.
“Chael Sonnen’s last two fights that he lost were against two of the pound-for-pound best fighters in the world,” UFC president Dana White said. “He’s still considered one of the best (middleweights) in the world. A win puts him in a good place. For Shogun, beating Chael Sonnen puts him in a good place, too. It’s one step closer to a fight that puts them one step closer to a title shot.”
Regardless of the outcome, Sonnen will return to his usual middleweight division following the bout with Rua. While he would love a third fight against Silva, the drop is motivated by his desire to fight two other longtime UFC fixtures — Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva.
“I’m really chasing after two guys,” Sonnen said. “I’m chasing after after Vitor, and I’m chasing after Wanderlei. And Wanderlei had mentioned right before I had made that decision that he was coming back to 185. There wasn’t a whole lot of other motivation than that.”
The main card will also feature several bouts between title contenders. The co-main event pairs top-10 heavyweights Alistair Overeem against Travis Browne. Overeem, the former Strikeforce heavyweight champion, missed most of 2012 due to a drug suspension. He returned this year and split his first two bouts in the UFC. A victory over Browne, 5-1-1 in the UFC and coming off an April victory over Gabriel Gonzaga, could move him back into the title picture.
“For me, I’ve just been really focused on my own development,” said Overeem. “I was recovering from a (leg) injury and getting back on track. I made a lot of changes in camp, in preparation and the whole process.”
Former World Extreme Cagefighting featherweight champion Urijah Faber, who hopes to secure a rematch against UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao, will face Yuri Alcantara. The main card will also feature welterweights Matt Brown vs. Mike Pyle, middleweights Uriah Hall vs. John Howard and lightweights Joe Lauzon vs. Michael Johnson.
The preliminaries, which also air on FOX Sports 1 and begin at noon HST, include: bantamweights Brad Pickett vs. Michael McDonald; featherweights Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway; featherweights Mike Brown vs. Steven Siler; and featherweights Diego Brandao vs. Daniel Pineda.
