LAS VEGAS – Given what he's seen with athletic commissions over his years in the fight game, Dana White is appalled at the case of Chael Sonnen. One week after the the California State Athletic Commission upheld Sonnen's indefinite suspension, the UFC president vented about "incredibly, amazingly unfair" treatment the onetime middleweight title-challenger has received.
"I think it's horrible," White said Wednesday.
White confirmed that Sonnen was, in fact, due to coach "The Ultimate Fighter 14" opposite Michael Bisping, and the winner of the traditional season-ending fight between coaches was likely to get a title shot against champ Anderson Silva.
For Sonnen, it would be a do-over of an exhilarating but ultimately unsuccessful attempt at the belt at UFC 117, and it would likely be an extraordinarily lucrative opportunity not only for him, but for the promotion, as well.
It was the CSAC's six-month suspension of Sonnen following that summer event that nixed an early-year rematch. (He tested positive for elevated levels of testosterone and admitted to using the drug to combat hypogonadism, a deficiency in natural testosterone.) With the upholding of a second, indefinite suspension – enacted late this past month – it effectively bars him from fighting or acting as a second until June 29, that cut deeper.
As it stands, June 5 is the last day for Sonnen to get a second's license to coach "TUF 14," and with the new development, White is unsure of the fighter's timetable for a return.
What's certain is that the sharp-tongued Sonnen won't be coaching fighters and jawing with Bising any time soon. And that wouldn't sting so much to the UFC president had he not seen others in combat sports serve their punishment and move on – namely, boxing, where his roots in promotion lie.
One target of White's ire is current light-middleweight Antonio Margarito, whose license was revoked for one year following the discovery that his hands were wrapped with a plaster of Paris-like substance for his fight in January 2009 with Shane Mosley. Margarito was licensed nearly two years later by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation for a fight with multi-title champ Manny Pacquiao.
"Listen, we've run toward regulation," White said. "I'm all about athletic commissions and always do whatever I'm told by the athletic commissions. But I think what happened to Chael Sonnen was above and beyond what would normally happen in boxing.
"When somebody does something wrong, they drag them in and hand out the punishment, and once that punishment has been handed out, the guy serves his sentence and moves on. If you look at boxing, man? There's been situations where guys have put weapons inside their hands and fought another human being. There have been instances where people have assaulted other people in the ring.
"Let me ask you a question," White said. "Floyd Mayweather's been running around town punching everybody in the face – threatening people and doing all this stuff. You watch how fast Floyd Mayweather gets licensed."
White's temperature rose when he discussed Sonnen's indefinite suspension.
"It's a touchy subject for me, man," he said. "When guys get in trouble, if you're dumb enough to do something to get in trouble, you've got to face the consequences. You've got to man up and take your punishment. This guy did some dumb stuff. He manned up, and he was punished. He took it on the chin. Once that sentence is over, it's over.
"Some of the things that [boxers have] done and some of the things that they've said – publicly and everything else – and look at some of the sentences that were imposed on them. You guys want to do some reporting? Report on that."
In addition to inconsistencies in Sonnen's testimony during the appeal of his initial suspension, the CSAC also cited the fighter's recent conviction on a single federal charge of money laundering as grounds for the re-suspension.
For those who say Sonnen has only himself to blame for often outlandish statements he's made in his rise to prominence, White said that hardly justifies the consequences the fighter now faces.
"Chael Sonnen's got a big mouth," he said. "Chael Sonnen says a lot of dumb [expletive]. Whatever. Chael Sonnen served his sentence. When you get to the point where a guy serves his sentence and now you're stopping the guy – his ability to make a living?
"Is Chael Sonnen some huge marquee fighter? Am I out here like Chuck Liddell's in his prime, or Brock Lesnar, or Cain Velasquez – is he one of these fighters that I'm out here being the promoter going, 'I need this guy?' Chael Sonnen can fight or Chael Sonnen could ride off into the wind tomorrow. My business has to move on. It is what it is.
"I'm just speaking here today as a person saying I think what happened to Chael Sonnen is absolutely insane. It's unjust. It's unfair."
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