That’s because the former UFC middleweight title challenger, who also made a play for light heavyweight gold, is a reformed “scumbag” who knows the ins and outs of gaming the system. Not surprisingly, Sonnen is familiar with the playbook of former UFC two-division champion Conor McGregor, recently suspended for a trio of Whereabouts Violations under the promotion’s current drug testing policy.
Fighters enrolled in the Combat Sports Anti-Doping (CSAD) program must be accessible for on-the-spot drug testing at a moment’s notice. In summer of 2024, McGregor failed to provide his whereabouts — or submit to drug testing — on three separate occasions within a four-month period, resulting in an 18-month suspension (reduced from 24 months) that ends in March 2026.
“Every dog gets one bite,” Sonnen said on YouTube. “Everybody gets a pass. It’s quite literally the reason why they give you three strikes in a calendar year. Everybody’s allowed to be wrong. Everybody’s allowed to be heavy sleeper, just for example. Maybe they come at some part of the day — whatever the excuse might be, you don’t even need to share it. Three is kind of a lot in a 12-month period when your one and only job is to tell them where you are. That’s all that you’re being accused of. You’re not being accused of a substance here, you’re not being accused of anything other than clerically, administratively. Three times in a 12-month period you did not tell us where you were. And for somebody that has as elaborate of a team, I believe they did tell you where they were. I believe the agents were at the right place.”
“This very thing happened with the notorious story of Jon Jones in the ring,“ Sonnen added. ”That’s a completely true story. They had showed up to where he said that he was, he was not ready for a test, and he went under the ring. That’s a very true story, it’s not folklore. And my vision of what happened here with Conor is something very similar. I’m guessing, but I’m just telling you I believe having this lived this life, I believe they did have his whereabouts. I believe it was accurately updated. I believe he did purposefully not allow them to test him. That’s my belief. I’m not overly upset about it. I’m not overly pointing the finger at Conor. I’m sharing, as a fellow scumbag, some of the psychology that goes in to living that life and trying to stay one step ahead. It’s a great gig until it’s up.”
