According to UFC President Dana White, Chael Sonnen’s retirement from mixed martial arts is 100 percent legitimate.
At a media scrum on Thursday, White made it clear that he would be hesitant to book Sonnen for a fight in the future – though he doesn’t see that scenario happening anyway, per Bloody Elbow.
“If Chael came back to me and said he wants to fight again I'd go, 'Dude, why?' The offers that this guy gets every day for stuff, he couldn't possibly do everything that he gets offered. There's no point in him fighting anymore. I think he went out on his own terms.”
Sonnen announced he would be hanging up the gloves for good on Wednesday, just 24 hours after it was revealed he failed a random drug test administered by the Nevada State Athletic Commission for two anti-estrogenic drugs.
“The American Gangster” was set to fight top middleweight contender Vitor Belfort at UFC 175 on July 5, but was pulled from the card immediately following the drug test failure.
The silver-tongued FOX Sports 1 analyst initially stated he would be appealing the matter since the drugs were necessary to taper off from testosterone replacement therapy, but that now seems unlikely since he is no longer an active competitor.
Sonnen was just 1-3 in his past four contests, though all of those matchups were against current or former champions in Rashad Evans, Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua.
Shogun was the only opponent Sonnen got the better of, tapping out the ex-PRIDE star with a guillotine choke in the first round.
Will Sonnen angle for a return to the Octagon sooner than later or is this really the end of the Team Reign Training Center product’s career?