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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Chael Sonnen's move back to the light heavyweight division is an opportunity for him to make one more run at a UFC Championship. After failing to capture the belt in two major bouts with Anderson Silva, his only option for getting into another title fight was the 205 lb. division, and he'll take his first step towards that on Dec. 29 when he takes on Forrest Griffin.
Still, though he's moving up against a fighter who holds a win over him, he feels he's leaving the toughest division in the UFC.
"A change is always nice," Sonnen said in an interview with the New York Post on Tuesday. "You do the same thing over and over, you're always looking for change. 185 is the toughest weight class out there. We sent our champion (Silva) up to face their [former] champion, Forrest Griffin (in 2009). It lasted 93 seconds. There's no debate to what the toughest weight class is. They used to have a karate guy (Lyoto Machida) that was champion at that weight."
Jokes aside, Sonnen is eying a fight against the division's current Champion, Jon Jones, provided Jones gets past Sonnen's former Team Quest fighter Dan Henderson, who meets Jones on Sept. 1.
"I don't think there's gonna be much left of [Jones] when Dan Henderson gets done with him,” Sonnen said. “If there's anything left of him, I'd be happy to play cleanup."
Penick's Analysis: Sonnen could immediately be a more interesting opponent for Jones than some of the other options, considering Jones has already defeated almost every main challenger in the division. Should Sonnen get past Griffin on Dec. 29, I'd expect Jones fights and defeats Lyoto Machida between December and February himself, so as Rich Hansen commented on Tuesday night, let's just book Jones vs. Sonnen for Memorial Day or July 4 weekend right now.
[Chael Sonnen art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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