***spoilers*** UFC News and Discussion Thread

[Gazz]

Given he was on TRT and you can't just stop that cold turkey, ir's not surprising that he would fail an out of competition test.

[Benjamin]

So the first UFC strawweight fight will take place in July, not during the TUF season. Claudia Gadelha meets Tina Lahdemaki, who admittedly I've never seen fight. Gadelha's pretty awesome, though.

I'm guessing this is to start building up the first contender or so for whoever wins that season.

[Cymbols]

Chael's retired apparently.

[Rich]

Per MMA Junkie:

Following a Tuesday announcement that he failed a Nevada State Athletic Commission-issued drug test, Chael Sonnen (28-14-1 MMA, 7-7 UFC) has retired from MMA competition.

Sonnen used his co-host platform on today’s edition of FOX Sports 1′s “UFC Tonight” to make the announcement, bringing his 17-year career to an abrupt end.

“I want to take an opportunity to officially announcement my retirement from competitive mixed martial arts,” Sonnen said. “I had a great time.

” … I want to thank FOX. I want to thank the leadership of the UFC. I want to thank a man named Bill Brady, who gave me a second wind, if you will. He’s a member of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and he believed in me at a time when I really needed somebody to, and I owe the second wind of my career to him. I am proud to call him a friend. I also want to thank the most important opponent I’ve ever had. I couldn’t have got here without this dance partner, and that is of course you, Anderson Silva. Thank you for the opportunity. Thank you for the memories. Thank you for the invitation to the barbecue, even though I didn’t take you up on it. “

A random drug test admitted to Sonnen by the NSAC this past month resulted in the 37-year-old testing positive for two banned substances. Sonnen later explained the positive results were a product of him taking fertility medication and to help taper off testosterone-replacement-therapy, which the NSAC banned earlier this year.

According to Sonnen, that medication worked. However, it came at the price of a positive test.

While Sonnen admits his first reaction was a defensive one, he now takes full responsibility for the results.

“I absolutely take responsibility,” Sonnen said. “The one thing when I spoke with (UFC President) Dana White yesterday when Dana White went and spoke with (America’s Pregame host] Mike Hill, he was very clear to say, ‘Chael needed to talk to the commission.’ Now I do agree with that, and I am well aware, as is my management team, that we do need to talk to a commission.

“This was out-of-competition testing. This has never happened to me. I’m only the third athlete ever that’s had to go through this. There’s also a bit of an expectation on my behalf that the commission will understand as I’m transitioning off testosterone as we’ve talked about a number of times. In the meanwhile, my wife and I were having problems with fertility. This is a matter of health, and this is a matter of being a parent and being able to live the next chapter of my life. At no point was there an attempt to slip around the system.”

Even though Sonnen is one of the UFC’s top-drawing fighters and has a tremendous following, he feels the importance of raising a family far exceeds his need to continue his professional career.

“I want to stay within the rules,” Sonnen said. “I don’t fully understand them, and I have to put my health first. I have to put my family first.

“ … There is going to be a day where I’m going to no longer have the title of fighter. That’s the reality. But I don’t ever want there to be the day where I can’t have the title of parent and father and husband. My health has got to come first.”

Sonnen retires from the sport with 43 professional fights and a 28-14-1 record, including a 7-7 mark in the UFC. He fought three times for a UFC title but came up short to former middleweight champ Silva (twice) and reigning light-heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones.

Sonnen’s 35 takedowns landed in middleweight competition are the most in UFC divisional history. His 1,300 total strikes landed at middleweight rank second all-time in the UFC.

[Noah]

[Cole]

This whole TRT issue and the commission debate has been a high point of discussion with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez as of late on F4W and WO programs. I'll look through the new observer tomorrow for some more info/tidbits on this, but it's definitely a weird gray area the commission has put themselves in with the TRT ban. Possibly more so the UFC for allowing them to come off of it in this form, and take a fight probably too soon before their levels were back to somewhat regular. It's funny that Wanderlei dipped from his test, and then Vitor got fucked too... I barely even watch UFC anymore but the names I do notice or recall I pay attention to.

Sad Sonnen had to go on this note, though you can probably tell he hasn't had his best stuff in quite some time. Not exactly surprising given the nature of his drug suspensions.

Let the WWE/TNA/pro wrestling talk for Chael commence though I would love to see him work a 'worked/shoot' match with Lesnar or something, though they can't both be heel's (to note, I mean along the lines of a lions den match or something. Though that's a conversation for another topic.)

[buck...]

my first thought with the retirement thought was though....Sonnen is going to train for the wwe. I hope i'm right, though I doubt it.

[Rich]

This whole TRT issue and the commission debate has been a high point of discussion with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez as of late on F4W and WO programs. I'll look through the new observer tomorrow for some more info/tidbits on this, but it's definitely a weird gray area the commission has put themselves in with the TRT ban. Possibly more so the UFC for allowing them to come off of it in this form, and take a fight probably too soon before their levels were back to somewhat regular. It's funny that Wanderlei dipped from his test, and then Vitor got fucked too... I barely even watch UFC anymore but the names I do notice or recall I pay attention to.

Sad Sonnen had to go on this note, though you can probably tell he hasn't had his best stuff in quite some time. Not exactly surprising given the nature of his drug suspensions.

Let the WWE/TNA/pro wrestling talk for Chael commence though I would love to see him work a 'worked/shoot' match with Lesnar or something, though they can't both be heel's (to note, I mean along the lines of a lions den match or something. Though that's a conversation for another topic.)

UFC had no say in how TRT changed, and the comissions originally were coming from the right place with the TRT exemptions, as it was legitimately for medical concerns where men were suffering low levels of testosterone, but then people potentially started to take advantage of this and it blurred the lines between legitimate medical treatment and a loophole to take a competitive advantage from and as a result they had to close the exemption as it became more and more controversial.

The other side of the coin is that they stopped the exmeption without a cooling off period, and alsi UFC have been willing to try and book the people who have used TRT quickly, and as a result we have this situation

[Cole]

This whole TRT issue and the commission debate has been a high point of discussion with Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez as of late on F4W and WO programs. I'll look through the new observer tomorrow for some more info/tidbits on this, but it's definitely a weird gray area the commission has put themselves in with the TRT ban. Possibly more so the UFC for allowing them to come off of it in this form, and take a fight probably too soon before their levels were back to somewhat regular. It's funny that Wanderlei dipped from his test, and then Vitor got fucked too... I barely even watch UFC anymore but the names I do notice or recall I pay attention to.

Sad Sonnen had to go on this note, though you can probably tell he hasn't had his best stuff in quite some time. Not exactly surprising given the nature of his drug suspensions.

Let the WWE/TNA/pro wrestling talk for Chael commence though I would love to see him work a 'worked/shoot' match with Lesnar or something, though they can't both be heel's (to note, I mean along the lines of a lions den match or something. Though that's a conversation for another topic.)

UFC had no say in how TRT changed, and the comissions originally were coming from the right place with the TRT exemptions, as it was legitimately for medical concerns where men were suffering low levels of testosterone, but then people potentially started to take advantage of this and it blurred the lines between legitimate medical treatment and a loophole to take a competitive advantage from and as a result they had to close the exemption as it became more and more controversial.

The other side of the coin is that they stopped the exmeption without a cooling off period, and alsi UFC have been willing to try and book the people who have used TRT quickly, and as a result we have this situation

Yeah when I said "Possibly more so the UFC for allowing them to come off of it in this form". I meant what you had in your second paragraph, I just worded it poorly still having been vaguely talking about the commission.

I definitely agree that there was a clear abuse of the TRT exemption rule, much like you'd expect in a professional sport. So it had to be changed, it might have just been done it poor fashion. Stricter guidelines or time frames given would have probably cleared this mess up for all parties involved.

[Benjamin]

No way is Chael going to the WWE, not with his current role. I highly doubt he'd ever do anything like that ever.

[Chael P. Sonnen]

It's a shame, a real shame. Gonna miss Chael but I assume he'll be kept on in some capacity, the way that Dana was speaking about it...

[Gazz]

Chael and CM Punk are going to the WWE to end the PG urrah.

[Benjamin]

Huh, so I guess no one did give a fuck about today's fights, eh?

Andrei's return was so disappointing. I was so sadface about it, almost the entire day.

[Chael P. Sonnen]

GOD DAMN IT SONNEN, YOUR NEWS WAS SO BIG.... PEOPLE FORGOT ABOUT UFC 174.

[Cymbols]

Pretty flat night of fights. People were leaving in the middle of the main event.

[Chris2K]

The reaction at the end of the night must have been the quietest I've ever heard a crowd following a main event. Johnson is a great fighter and I'm sure a very nice person, but he is not a draw in any sense of the word and has cleared out the Flyweight Division.

[Benjamin]

Bendo vs. Dos Anjos is the Tulsa main event on Aug. 23.

[Rich]

I finally caught up with UFC 174, I quite enjoyed the McDonald/Woodley tilt but everything else felt a bit flat, especially the Arlvoski/Shaub fight, mainly because I love me some Andrei and it was just a bad fight

[Benjamin]

Yeah, I love Andrei too, but he really was lucky to survive that one, IMO. He was so much slower than Schaub, but I don't know what Brendan was doing either, he looked a little timid at the beginning, when I felt that would have been where he could have done the most damage. It was just a bad fight overall, I guess.

EDIT: Also, Jacare vs. Mousasi is confirmed as the co-main event for UFC 176. Rematch from 2008, when Mousasi won with that crazy ass upkick if you guys recall.

Edited June 18, 2014 by Benkid

[Rich]

So, some stuff has happened today:

Bjorn Rebney has left Bellator

He has been replaced by Scott Coker, former CEO of Strikeforce.

Brandon Vera has left the UFC after 9 years.

But most importantly: