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Last week on UFC Tonight, Chael Sonnen made the official announcement that he'd be returning to the Light Heavyweight division for the first time since losing his UFC debut to Renato Sobral at UFC 55. Fading inaugural TUF winner Forrest Griffin will welcome him back to the division at UFC 155 in December. Always one to aim high, Chael wasted no time in engaging 205 lb champion Jon Jones in a Twitter war.
Tonight, his attack reconvened, as Sonnen began posting false retweets accredited to the champion:
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— chael sonnen (@sonnench) August 19, 2012@jonnybones: been watching tape on@sonnench. I'd rather relinquish my title and run away to HW than fight that man.#P4P#GOAT
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— chael sonnen (@sonnench) August 19, 2012@jonnybones:@sonnench Why fight you? It's a lose-lose situation for me. I lose the fight and I lose my title.
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— chael sonnen (@sonnench) August 19, 2012@jonnybones: Still growing in my career and in life and if I've learned one thing, it's DON'T F@&K with@sonnench
If there was any doubt that Sonnen intends to trash talk his way to a quick title shot, there's none now. Sonnen notoriously used his silver tongue to hype both his failed title shots against Middleweight champion Anderson Silva. The plan worked perfectly with UFC 148 being by far the biggest PPV of the year so far. Sonnen also makes it clear here that he's not going to pull any punches with his trash talk. His line about a "lose-lose situation" is a painfully obvious reference to Jones's recent statement about rematching Light Heavyweight karateka Lyoto Machida.
Many will say the trash talk by the two fighters is a bit premature since Jon Jones still has two potential fights scheduled before a Sonnen fight would even be a possibility. However, Jones is rightfully expected to make short work of Dan Henderson at UFC 151 then Machida in their rematch. For his part, Sonnen has also opened as the betting favorite over Forrest Griffin.
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