Dana White says "too many problems" likely to keep Chael Sonnen from TUF 14 coaching slot

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Though the latest edition of Dave Meltzer's Wrestling Observer Newsletter features a report stating that the UFC is looking to put Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping against one another as coaches on the 14th season of The Ultimate Fighter, UFC President Dana White says Sonnen's multitude of issues makes him unlikely for a slot on the show.

Sonnen finished up a six-month suspension last month from the California State Athletic Commission, but the way in which he went about getting his suspension reduced from a full year has complicated things with him getting licensed in Nevada.

Sonnen, who failed a pre-fight steroid test for his UFC 117 fight against Anderson Silva, claimed in his appeal hearing that his steroid use was a necessary testosterone replacement therapy treatment for low levels of the hormone. In one of many claims Sonnen made without backing it up with proof, Sonnen told the CSAC that not only had he felt he properly disclosed his treatment to the CSAC, but that he had gotten prior approval in Nevada from NSAC executive director Keith Kizer.

Kizer would go on to state multiple times that no such approval had been given, and that he had never had a conversation with Sonnen. Sonnen reportedly admitted that such a conversation had not taken place in a meeting with Kizer last month along with UFC officials in a preliminary attempt to smooth things over.

That may not have gone well, however, with White's comments to MMAJunkie.com on Monday.

"We have no clue who will coach [TUF 14]; Chael has a ton of problems (right now)," said White.

With Sonnen also currently awaiting sentencing on money laundering charges to which he's plead guilty in his home state of Oregon, his contract with the UFC was mutually frozen until his issues were dealt with. If these problems are too much to be dealt with, the UFC will go elsewhere with the coaching gig for The Ultimate Fighter's 14th season. That said, with the season not set to film until this June, never say never on Sonnen in the coaching gig.

Penick's Analysis: He does have a lot of issues that have yet to be dealt with, and because of what those issues are, the UFC should look elsewhere for their coaches of this season. With the UFC's pressure, the NSAC will eventually license Sonnen again, as they're not likely to put up a huge stand if the UFC wants Sonnen to be licensed. It doesn't make it just but it's also the nature of the game. Sonnen has already gotten off light when it comes to the CSAC, and it's likely to continue even now because his behavior has gotten a response that will make him and the UFC money when he returns to the cage. For business reasons they'll get him back into the cage, but with what he's pulled over the last year he shouldn't be rewarded even further with this high profile type opportunity.

Don Frye Tony Fryklund Kazuyuki Fujita Masakatsu Funaki Zelg Benkei Galesić Mauro Galvao