Former UFC middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen has received some glad tidings after an alleged incident this past December that had him facing multiple charges
Chael Sonnen and trouble go hand-in-hand at times. The former UFC middleweight title contender was in the news after he was charged with a felony count of battery by strangulation and 10 misdemeanor counts of battery. The charges were initially made in January, but it was dismissed without prejudice, which left the option for the charges to be re-filed.
As per the new hearing on Wednesday, his charges have been reduced to six misdemeanor counts. Sonnen’s defense attorney, Dayvid Figler, said he believes the court “realized that the more appropriate way to move forward would be with this amended complaint.”
Chael Sonnen allegedly assaulted Dr. Christopher Stellpflug and Julie Stellpflug, as well as several security guards and hotel guests who intervened during the alleged incident. The Stellpflugs filed a lawsuit against Sonnen seeking damages in excess of $15,000 for battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress. On Wednesday, the attorney for the Stellpflugs, Kory Kaplan, protested the reduction of charges and claimed that the decision contradicted a previous statement from prosecutors.
MacLife’s Oscar Willis wrote on Twitter, ‘Chael Sonnen’s case has had all felonies dismissed and will resort back to the original charges filed, per an amendment hearing in Las Vegas today.’
Further details from the case will emerge in the course of time.
“I think Colby needs to go up to 185” – Chael Sonnen believes Israel Adesanya desperately ‘needs’ Colby Covington at middleweight
UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya is a force to be reckoned with currently. He is on a career trajectory, similar to the P4P king of the UFC, Kamaru Usman- lapping guys in their respective division. But what sets Usman’s case apart is the idea of a few more exciting fights in the welterweight division, unlike Izzy’s division which in all honesty is getting static.
The situation is almost reminiscent of Anderson Silva’s prime and dominance of the middleweight throne, which somewhat made the division motionless. Until he met his match in Chael Sonnen, who trash-talked Silva like never seen before. Although not the toughest competition that the Brazilian faced on paper, Sonnen worked his way into the fight by playing mind games and trash vilifying whenever he got a chance. In doing so he put up one of the most difficult fights for Silva in their first encounter and even landed a rematch.
Chael Sonnen sees similar potential in the Adesanya- Covington narrative.
“There was once a fighter named Anderson Silva, and everybody knew how great he was but Anderson had a hard time drawing attention, but only because people thought they knew how the movie was going to end,” Sonnen said on The Chael Sonnen Show (h/t MMA Fighting). “He finally got a counterpart that captivated the imagination of the world to think, ‘Wait a minute, this guy could actually beat him.’ I think that ‘Izzy’ is that good. I think that Izzy needs that.
“I think [Colby Covington] needs to go up to 185,” Sonnen continued. “Look, Colby has called out three guys in the last two weeks: He, of course, called out Kamaru Usman; he called out Israel Adesanya; and he called out Dustin Poirier. Now you’ve got to understand, the one thing those three guys have in common is they all have world championship belts somewhere on the mantle at home. These are hard callouts by ‘Chaos,’ but ‘Chaos,’ who’s obviously a No. 1 contender, does not get a fight for a championship. It’s a tough spot.
Sonnen adds by saying, “And quite frankly, nobody needs Colby as bad as Izzy Adesanya. I don’t know if Israel is aware of that yet, but he’s starting to fight people that aren’t doing their job in the media, that aren’t bringing the attention, that aren’t helping the brand and making the marquee fight as big as it could be. I think if Izzy stood back and saw what Colby has to offer, that’s gonna be a partner that he would like to do business with.”
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