UFC: Chael Sonnen announces retirement from MMA

Yesterday's MMA media waves were filled with the unfortunate news of UFC star, Chael Sonnen's drug test failure stemming from a random test administered on May 23. Subsequently, he was removed from the upcoming UFC 175 card where he would have faced Vitor Belfort in the main event. Sonnen gave his explanation to Jay Mohr later in the afternoon, and then again on FOX Sports 1's America's Pregame show.

Now, in another twist of this story, Chael has just announced his retirement from mixed martial arts a few moments ago on UFC Tonight. The move is not a surprising one, and he will retire with a record of 28-14-1. His last fight, against Rashad Evans, was a first round loss. The UFC remains optimistic about finding Belfort a replacement for the July 5th bout.

According to Kevin Iole of Yahoo Sports, Vitor Belfort won't fight at UFC 175 given the UFC's inability to get him a new opponent.

Aguilar: "I want to deal with the more pressing issues first." Aguilar said Sonnen will remain on agenda for discipline despite retirement

— Kevin Iole (@KevinI) June 12, 2014

We'll keep our readers up to date with any future breaking news on this story.