Chael Sonnen will face no criminal ramifications from an incident that occurred in December.
Back in December former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen was accused of battery against ‘five separate victims’. That alleged incident took place at the Luxor hotel in Las Vegas and purportedly included Sonnen banging on the door of a room before being involved in an altercation with its inhabitants.
Sonnen had been charged with misdemeanor battery in relation to that case. However, per a report from ESPN, those charges have now been dropped. As a result Sonnen will not face any criminal prosecution in relation to the case.
With this case now closed Sonnen is free to focus on his duties for tonight, serving as analyst for Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Eagle FC. That promotion is having it’s US debut tonight with a card headlined by Tyrone Spong and Sergei Kharitonov.
The 44-year-old pundit recently announced his retirement from MMA competition. His last bout was in 2019, a loss to Lyoto Machida at Bellator 222.
In Bellator Sonnen had a 2-3 record while fighting icons of the sport that included Fedor Emlianenko and Wanderlei Silva. He joined Bellator in 2017, four years after his release from the UFC.
Sonnen challenged for a UFC title on three occasions. In his first title shot, back in 2010, he came within two minutes of defeating Anderson Silva for the middleweight title, which would have been one of the largest upsets in UFC history.
After rebounding with wins over Brian Stann and Michael Bisping, Sonnen got a rematch with Silva in 2012. That fight ended in a resounding win for ‘The Spider’.
A year later Sonnen unsuccessfully challenged Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title. That came after the pair coached opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter. Sonnen finished off his UFC tenure with a win over Mauricio Rua and a loss to Rashad Evans.