Former middleweight title challenger Chael Sonnen announced on UFC Tonight last night that he would be moving up to light heavyweight and his first opponent will be Forrest Griffin.
Chael Sonnen was ranked by many as the No. 2 middleweight for nearly two years now and is 5-2 in his last seven fights, with his only losses coming at the hands of middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Griffin is coming off a win against Tito Ortiz at UFC 148 and is 3-3 in his last six bouts. So does this matchup makes sense?
I believe it does.
Although Forrest Griffin’s win against Tito Ortiz wasn’t spectacular, it was still a much-needed win for the former champion. The top of the division is already mainly booked, with the champion Jon Jones meeting No. 1 contender Dan Henderson in a couple weeks, Lyoto Machida waiting for the winner of that fight and Shogun Rua and Alexander Gustafsson just announced as likely candidates for the next title challenger.
That takes out the top five guys in the division. Chael Sonnen arriving in a new division coming off a loss isn’t a top-five light heavyweight, so the decision to match him with a 6-10 fighter is a great decision.
Not to mention the fact that Griffin actually holds a win over Sonnen way back in 2003, so there is even a little story to build the fight on.
Both men are likely looking at their final chance to purse one final run at a championship, so while this fight most likely won’t propel either man to a title shot, it’ll definitely get either Sonnen or Griffin closer and back into contention at 205.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com