Chael Sonnen Appeals Drug Test

Josh Gross reports that Chael Sonnen will appeal to the CSAC:

CSAC executive director George Dodd confirmed that Sonnen (24-11-1) and his representatives submitted the appeal last week and asked for documents related to the Los Angeles drug testing laboratory that produced positive results on Sept. 2 and Sept. 14.

Dodd said those documents should be compiled and delivered within a week or two, and that pending approval by the commission chair, the appeal is likely to be heard Dec. 2 in Sacramento, Calif.

Appeals to the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) have a pretty mixed history. Sean Sherk appealed and got nowhere his suspension reduced from one year to six months. Hermes Franca admitted wrong-doing and got no leniency. At that same hearing, James Toney cursed out the commission and got his suspension cut in half after claiming someone tampered with his water bottle. Phil Baroni also got his suspension reduced by half after appealing. 

Of course, those events happened under the disgraced Armando Garcia regime. Garcia had to step down amidst sexual harassment charges and his testing protocols were so dubious that the new regime went several events without testing at all rather than use Garcia's methodology. 

I don't expect much to come from the Sonnen appeal, but anything can happen. At the very least it will be interesting to see if Sonnen attempts to play it straight or if he sticks to his outrageous persona for dealing with the commission.