Chael Sonnen has verbally accepted a challenge to compete at this weekend’s Craig Jones Invitational against the person of the hour.
The legendary former UFC middleweight and light-heavyweight title challenger hasn’t competed within the cage for the reason that summer of 2019. He did return for an exhibition boxing bout last summer against Anderson Silva, however the bout was little greater than a glorified sparring session.
Now, he’s offering to grapple with one of the vital outstanding grapplers on this planet; Craig Jones. The Australian was as a result of face Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson, but it surely appears that a questionable foot injury has cost him that matchup, and possibly landed him an excellent larger name.
Chael Sonnen accepts Craig Jones’ callout for short-notice return to motion
After Gable Steveson’s late-notice pullout from the Craig Jones Invitational, the headliner called for an additional super-fight. This time, he wanted Chael Sonnen, and the legendary trash talker seems to have delivered with an affirmative response.
“Was he calling me out, was this the decision out?” Sonnen asked during an appearance on FloGrappling today. “He disguised it as a friendly phone call. You’ll be able to tell Craig Jones not only do I accept, but I’m p—ed off about it.
“Do what I’d do to Gable Steveson? It is a massive step up. The last time I saw Gable I put him in a headlock and I gave him a noogie right after I signed an autograph for him. Goodbye, turkey. I’ll see you at CJI.”
Craig Jones Invitational features $1million tournament
While Jones’ return to motion is the featured super-fight of the event, CJI 2 is primarily built around a $1million team tournament. The bout can be expected to be the BJJ star’s final match as he looks to retire from competition and step back from the B-Team.
Eight teams of 5 will compete within the $1million tournament, with representatives from world wide participating. tenth Planet, Latest Wave, Atos, B-Team and “Daisy Fresh” Pedigo Submission Fighting will likely be joined by teams representing America, Australasia and Europe.