Former UFC middleweight contender and the self-proclaimed “Gangster from West Linn, Oregon” Chael Sonnen announced on Fuel TV’s “UFC Tonight” that he will move up a weight class to light heavyweight and face former champion Forrest Griffin. The fight is set to happen on December 29 in Las Vegas.
Sonnen, who has previously wondered aloud why the light heavyweight division even exists, had previously been rumoured to fight fellow Fox correspondent Rashad Evans at middleweight. The last time Sonnen stepped into the octagon he was defeated by Anderson Silva by TKO in one of the biggest fights of the year at UFC 148 on July 7.
Griffin fought on that same card, winning a decision over a retiring Tito Ortiz in a fight that became infamous as Griffin ran out of the octagon after the fight but before the decision, presuming he had lost.
The two have crossed path before, in the IFC’s “Global Domination” tournament back in 2003. Griffin won that initial meeting via a first round triangle choke.
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