Chael Sonnen Free to Apply For License as of Today

[WrestlingSmarks News]

Are we going to see Chael Sonnen back in the cage soon? It was widely reported that Chael's suspension wasn't up until 2012, but apparently that's not the case. MMAFighting spoke to California State Athletic Commission executive officer George Dodd, and he said Chael's good to go:

"He can be removed from the suspension list and he is able to re-apply to any agency or any commission," George Dodd, the Commission's executive officer, told MMAFighting.com on Wednesday. "In California he would have to appear before the Commission before the Commission would license."

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Dodd isn't sure what Sonnen is going to do, but he's leaving any re-licensing issue outside California in the hands of that particular state:

"I don't know if Chael plans on reapplying." Dodd said, adding that if he applies elsewhere, "It would be up to that commission or licensing agency."

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Chael mentioned at his last hearing that if he wasn't licensed, it would be "career-ending". Dodd says no to that:

"No, that's not the case," Dodd said. "I'm pretty sure he'll probably be able to get licensed in other states. That was his interpretation, I believe, of his contract with the UFC, and that was a big blow to him that he couldn't do that at that time. But to say that he's out of it, that was his interpretation, not ours."

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Apparently Sonnen's ready to fight. He tweeted about it last night, in his usual humorous way:

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I can finally get back to the most important thing in my life. Defending my Middleweight Championship.less than a minute ago via web Favorite Retweet Reply chael sonnen
sonnench




It should be interesting to see how the UFC goes forward with this, especially in the wake of Nate Marquardt's firing.