Sonnen to face licensing scrutiny in Nevada

Sonnen also said that he briefly used another steroid, Masteron, a drug used for treatment of breast cancer in women, during that period but didn’t find it worked as therapy for his condition. Masteron is a steroid frequently used in sports where there are weight classes and involve weight cutting, since it is effective in maintaining or adding strength while on a reduced calorie diet and trying to cut weight. Sonnen claimed he had discussed this situation with Keith Kizer, the Executive Director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission, so it wasn’t an issue in that state, where he had fought three times since his claimed start date on the therapy. He claimed Kizer told him that he’s clear in the state and he doesn’t have to talk with anyone else about the situation.

I’ve never spoken to Chael about anything, said Kizer. I rarely talk to the fighters.

That was surreal listening and hearing your name mentioned like that, he added.

There are a lot of things he said that didn’t add up, said Kizer, who noted that after the hearing he spoke with George Dodd of the CSAC as well as Marc Ratner from the UFC, and both told him that Sonnen made claims in his defense regarding his interaction with both organizations about things they said or did that didn’t happen.

He said that if Sonnen, whose license in Nevada expires at the end of the year, wants to get licensed to fight in 2011 after his California suspension expires, he won’t get the usual administrative approval. He said that Sonnen is going to have to go before the commission, explain why he made the statements about Kizer and him talking, explain why he claimed he had used testosterone since 2008 but never listed it on his forms, as well as how he would have passed the tests. He also will be asked about his first fight with Paulo Filho in the state where he verbally submitted while in an armbar, and then tried to claim in the ring, and even after the fight, that he never submitted and the referee shouldn’t have stopped the fight. Kizer said Sonnen had put on his form for prior fights a prescription for an antibiotic to combat acne and a decongestant.

Regarding any rumors of Sonnen as a coach of the next season of the Ultimate Fighter reality show, I don’t even know if there would be anything to those rumors, because the timing wouldn’t be good. Even if UFC wanted it, there would be licensing issues. The season starts in February. TUF coaches have to get second’s licenses because the show is filmed in Las Vegas. Sonnen is on suspension in California through March and Nevada recognizes that suspension. Sonnen would have to get specific commission approval to get the second’s license and the his suspension in California not having ended would play a part in the hearing he’d have to go through. There is no hard and fast rule like he couldn’t be a second because of a suspension in another state as a fighter, but it would not be a rubber stamp procedure either.

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