Since being defeated by Anderson Silva last month, Chael Sonnen has hinted at the possibility of moving up in weight.
Sonnen announced last night on “UFC Tonight” on FUEL TV that he will move up to light heavyweight and will meet former UFC champion Forrest Griffin on December 29th.
The UFC has already announced that this fight card will be headlined by Junior dos Santos defending the UFC heavyweight title against Cain Velasquez and the light heavyweight fight could end up being the co-main event.
This will be a rematch between these two MMA veterans as they originally met back in 2003 at IFC: Global Domination in Denver, Colorado. Griffin won the first fight by a triangle choke submission in the first round.
Sonnen (27-12-1) has competed before as a light heavyweight in the UFC. At UFC 55 in 2005, he made his UFC light heavyweight debut against Renato “Babalu” Sobral and was defeated by submission in the second round.
Since that fight, he has been a middleweight and has won five of his last seven fights. The only losses during this recent streak were against current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
Griffin (19-7) has won three of his last four fights and is coming off a victory last month against Tito Ortiz. UFC President Dana White recently said that he wanted to see Griffin retire, but he will fight once again.
The December 29th card is expected to be UFC 155, but that has not been announced by the UFC at this time. The card will be in Las Vegas and it will either take place from the Mandalay Bay Events Center or the MGM Grand.