Biography
Sonnen started
his MMA carrer at age of 19 , with a score 6-0 in his first six fights. In his
first fight he defeated Ben Hailey in Vancouver , Washington at event called
"Battle of Fort Vancouver". His second fight was in Anza , California
against Jason Mayhem Miller future ICON Sport Middleweight Champion and
Strikeforce Middleweight contender.
After earning score 14-6-1
in his first 21 fights , it was time to join the fastest growing MMA
organization UFC.
UFC
Sonnen's debut in the
UFC didn't go too well. He had three fights , of which two were lost . In his
first UFC fight he faced former IFC and Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion
Renato Sobral at UFC 55 , which was his first fight in light heavyweight
division. After good standup round he lost fight on the floor by a triangle
choke. In the next fight he defeated Trevor Prangley at UFC event called UFC Ultimate
Fight Night 4. His third and last fight in UFC was against Jeremy Horn at UFC
60 were Sonnen lost via Armbar.
Bodog Fight
After leaving the UFC ,
Sonnen flew trough the Bodog Fight organization by winning 5 fights in a row
with no losses. He won against Tim Credeur via TKO , Alexey Oleinik by
unanimous decision , Tim McKenzie via Brabo Choke , Amar Soulver via TKO and
Kyacey Uscola via TKO.
WEC
In December 2007, Sonnen
fought Paulo Filho for the WEC middleweight championship. Sonnen lost via submission
at 4:55 of the second round. There was controversy stemming from the fight
stoppage, however. Sonnen did not tap out but yelled out, and the referee took
that as a verbal submission and stopped the fight.
Sonnen and Filho eventually
met again on November 5, 2008, where Sonnen soundly defeated Filho by unanimous
decision and won championship belt
Back to UFC
After WEC's breakdown
Sonnen was moveed back over to the UFC. In his first comeback fight he lost to
Demian Maia via triangle choke at UFC 95.
Sonnen came back stronger
at UFC 98 and won against Dan Miller by total domination trough the three
rounds. In his next fight UFC gave him Yushin Okami , strong japanese guy .
Sonnen out-wrestled him with Okami's no chance to do anything. After thath
fight Okami asked Sonnen to be his training partner.
Sonnen's last test before
Championship fight was heavly favored Nate Marquardt. Chael out-wrestled him
too over the three rounds and won by unanimous decision.
Championship fight
Finally it was time to meet
the champion Anderson Silva. Chael was much self-confident before the fight and
he showed it in the fight. He dominated Anderson in stand-up and on the floor.
Silva was never beaten like that and fight was going too good for Sonnen till
the last two minutes of the 5th round. Chael's first litlle inattention and he
found himself in Anderson's triangle choke which led Anderson to title defend.
In his next fight at UFC
136 , Chael will face Brian Stann which is known as a good striker and a great
athlete.
