It appears Chael Sonnen will not be allowed to compete at Submission Underground 3.
Update: Bellator has pulled Chael Sonnen from his grappling match this weekend. He won’t be competing after all. https://t.co/3HllhllT0K
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 25, 2017
On Tuesday, it was briefly announced Sonnen would compete in a grappling match just days after making his return to MMA.
The guy who "almost" passed some steroid tests, I'll be submitting none other than Mr. Almost @ChaelSonnen at @SUG_Grappling Jan 29th
— Garry Tonon (@Garry_Tonon) January 24, 2017
Sonnen had agreed to fight Garry Tonon, who is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. Tonon needed a new opponent after UFC middleweight Hector Lombard was forced to withdraw from the fight.
Lombard withdrew from the match due to his upcoming UFC fight on Feb. 19. Lombard will fight former UFC Welterweight Champion Johny Hendricks in a middleweight fight at a UFC Fight Night event in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
Apparently, Bellator will not allow Sonnen to compete at SUG 3 on Jan. 29 after he just lost in Bellator on Jan. 21.
At Bellator 170, Sonnen was submitted by Tito Ortiz in the main event. Ortiz took less than one round to submit Sonnen with a rear-naked choke.
SUG 3 will take place at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon. The event will be headlined by a grappling match between Dillon Danis, who is a training partner of UFC Lightweight Champion Conor McGregor, and AJ Agazarm. Former UFC title challenger Chad Mendes will also compete at the event against Jeff Glover.
SUG 3 will stream live on FloGrappling.
