Any regular reader of MMA Fix knows that we’ve taken great steps (not really, as nothing we’ve ever done could be categorized as ‘’great’) to cover Chael Sonnen’s amazing gift for entertaining / infuriating gab. Of course, it doesn’t hurt that he’s about to fight middleweight champ Anderson Silva, so naturally, that many more microphones have been heading his way.
Now, like him or hate him, Sonnen has been involved in a wee bit of controversy lately, due to the fact that a writer from the Huffington Post, didn’t exactly care for a ‘tweet’’ that appeared on what was believed to be the wrestler’s Twitter account (calling the comments, which were directed at Silva’s manager Ed Soares, “racist and xenophobic”). Sonnen was running for the Oregon State Senate, and although there seems to be quite a bit of evidence to the contrary, the fighter and his campaign announced soon after that the Twitter account was a fake.
Well, Fight Magazine is reporting today that Sonnen has withdrawn from the senate race, and no, it apparently has nothing to do with ‘Tweetgate.’ According to the story, which includes a statement from Sonnen himself, he has dropped out of the race due to “a real estate case that requires a ruling. If the ruling is adverse, I would be disqualified from running for office until 2011” (In addition to ‘ultimate fighting’, Sonnen is also a real estate agent).
Huh. Well, as Sonnen also conceded, looks like he’ll have plenty of time to prepare for his August 7th throw down with Silva now. Should be a good one.