Not only does former UFC middleweight contender Chael Sonnen (25-11-1) have to prepare a court appearance in March, one that could see him sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in jail and a $500,000 fine, he also has a fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama (13-3) to prepare for.
MMAjunkie.com was the first to report the fight late Monday.
Sonnen is currently serving a six-month suspension from the California State Athletic Commission for a positive steroid test after his UFC 117 bout with Anderson Silva last summer. On Monday news broke that the fighter, who is also a real estate agent in Oregon, pleaded guilty to federal charges of money laundering from an incident stemming back in 2006 that saw a money kickback to a home buyer.
Sentencing for Sonnen is scheduled to take place on March 28th, just nine days after his UFC 128 fight with Akiyama. In a report from OregonLive.com, “The government is recommending Sonnen be sentenced to two years of probation,” instead of jail time. It’s unclear how this could effect his career as a professional mixed martial artist.
Sonnen is 3-1 in his last four fights and is 4-4 under the UFC promotion. His last bout was against Anderson Silva for the middleweight title, in a fight that saw him dominate every round till he was submitted in the fifth. The loss ended a three fight win streak.
Akiyama is 1-2 in the UFC losing his last two fights, the only saving grace for the Japanese fighter is that he’s won the “Fight of the Night” bonus in all three of his UFC appearances. His last appearance was in October at UFC 120 in a unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping. Before that he was submitted by Chris Leben at UFC 116 who replaced Wanderlei Silva a month before the fight. He defeated Alan Belcher at UFC 110 in his promotional debut.
UFC 128 has yet to be officially announced but it is expected to take place at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey on March 19th.