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[TheDirtySis]

March 14, 2008 - Chael Sonnen was left dangling in the wind after WEC Middleweight champion Paulo Filho announced he was pulling out of a March 26 title bout in Las Vegas. Filho has checked into rehabilitation clinic in Brazil for undisclosed reasons. Sonnen will not receive his purse, but is hoping to still be on the March 26 card.

“I believe they are sincere in what they say and they still want me on the card,” the Oregon-native said. “They are searching for a replacement, but it might be at 205 pounds.”

It was the latest chapter in the on-again, off-again fight, but not surprising to Sonnen. Filho beat Sonnen on Dec. 12 by a controversial referee stoppage. Sonnen dominated the first round and nearly all of the second before Filho caught the Team Quest fighter in an armbar. Referee Josh Rosenthal stepped in to stop the fight with five seconds remaining in the round after believing Sonnen had tapped verbally. Filho made no secret of his desire to remain at 205 pounds, but a rematch was signed soon after. But after attempting to pull out of the fight and telling friends he would not make weight, his behavior became increasingly erratic.

“Where there is smoke, there is fire,” he said. “I have a new teammate at Team Quest named Fabiano Scherner. He is friends with Filho and told me that he was about 230 pounds and wasn’t going to make weight. So I was kind of expecting this. It certainly wasn’t devastating news. Almost from the moment I heard of the rematch, I felt it would never happen.”

Filho attempted to pull out of the fight last week after reading a misleading article on the WEC homepage in which he believed Sonnen’s father had recently died. But Sonnen’s father passed away five years ago. Filho stated the fight was back on.

“About two weeks ago, Fabiano let me know that something was unraveling,” Sonnen said. “Filho let me know through Fabiano, you know, sportsman-to-sportsman. It was his manager that kept insisting the fight was on. I just don’t understand that. The last thing you want to do is piss off Zuffa and Dana White.”

Now Sonnen is on risky ground. Fight, and gain some of the purse he had been training for, or wait, and protect his status as the No. 1 title contender.

“There certainly is no room for error,” he said. “There will definitely be a burden on me.”

Sonnen speculated that he may meet WEC middleweight Bryan Baker. Baker was scheduled to fight Nissen Osterneck on March 26, but Osterneck pulled out due to injury.

“Right now, more than the opponent, I want to know the weight class,” Sonnen said. “I am about 210 pounds now and if it’s going to be at 185, I will have to start cutting right away.”

MMA Madness™ - MMA Insight™ News - Sonnen Left Hanging When Filho Quits -- MMA Madness exclusive

I thought he was pretty respectful of the situation. Id be a little more pissed probably. I hope they dont wait till the last inute to tell him he is fighting at 185.



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[Bullock]

I'll put money of Sonnen if/when the fight happens.

Not real money.

[Dork8503]

Originally Posted by Bullock

I'll put money of Sonnen if/when the fight happens.

Not real money.

ok, if he loses i expect to see some fucking monopoly money in my mail box.

[Bullock]

You'll get my jiz in your mail box.


And you'll like it.

[SimpleJack]

I can't believe that Filho is scared of Chael Sonnen, but that's what I keep getting. As a matter of fact, he looked scared in the first fight after about a minute.

[mmasince91]

I am very interested how this whole situation will turn out but I think that if they are going to strip Sherk of the belt due to substance abuse they should do the same in this situation. It sounds like Filho isn't going to defend for a while. I hope he gets back on track and stops doing stupid shit.

[fredro32]

They stripped sherk b/c he tested positive for steroids after a fight, Filho pro-actively went into rehab, & never tested positive for any substance (since we technically don't know what he went to rehab for). I'm sure they can strip the title due to inactivity, but I'm not sure what other steps the WEC can do legally.

[thefirm0]

filho should probabaly be stripped due to inactivity and sonnen should fight someone else for the title, does anyone know what he was hooked on?

[jcmichaels42]

I don't know, but I can't remember the last time a guy got stripped of a title because of "inactivity." Matt Serra hasn't defended his title since last April. Rampage hasn't defended his title since September. I think Rich Franklin went 7-8 months in between title defenses as well.

So if you're gonna strip a guy that just defended his title in December, I think that might be a bit hypocritical of them.

[fredro32]

Originally Posted by jcmichaels42

I don't know, but I can't remember the last time a guy got stripped of a title because of "inactivity." Matt Serra hasn't defended his title since last April. Rampage hasn't defended his title since September. I think Rich Franklin went 7-8 months in between title defenses as well.

So if you're gonna strip a guy that just defended his title in December, I think that might be a bit hypocritical of them.

Serra & Rampage have inactivity due to injury, not rehab or substance abuse, altho I hope Filho gets healthy & gets a chance to defend his belt.