Michael Bisping feels "gutted" for Chael Sonnen after CSAC's decision to uphold his suspension

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Prior to the California State Athletic Commission upholding an indefinite suspension for Chael Sonnen, the UFC was targeting him for a fight with Michael Bisping after a stint on The Ultimate Fighter.

With those plans now out of the question, Bisping took to Twitter to respond to Sonnen's suspension being upheld.

"Gutted for Chael Sonnen," Bisping wrote. "People make mistakes. He paid his dues and should be allowed to continue with his career. Real shame for the guy."

"I did wanna fight him, as it would [have] been awesome, and a [number one] contender matchup, but my own personal wants aside, I do truly feel for the guy."

Penick's Analysis: The issue with Sonnen right now is he didn't "pay his dues" as his supporters continue to claim. He got his one year suspension reduced to six months based off of lies told to the commission to trip them up and get them to reduce the suspension. He was successful in that endeavor, but then it was made increasingly more clear that his comments to the commission in December didn't mesh with other accounts, and they've taken action. It's hard to feel bad for him because of how he piled on lie after lie after lie; he brought it upon himself.

Had he been straightforward with the commission things might have gone differently, but he made excuses after not following proper procedures, and he made false claims to get the suspension reduced. That's where the issue was. It's completely different from Thiago Silva, who accepted his punishment after getting caught. He tried to get away with cheating, but didn't compound a bunch of lies upon each other after getting caught, and so the commission will be more forgiving of him when his suspension is up next January.

But for Sonnen, his story has changed on a number of occasions, and after lying to the commission in the first place he was then convicted of money laundering charges. That doesn't make them look at him in a favorable light, and when he hasn't made himself appear trustworthy and he's been shown to have lied to them previously, it's not hard to see why they wouldn't take him at his word now. For Bisping, as a fellow fighter, sure he feels for him and wanted to get the fight with him, but again Sonnen brought this on himself with a series of actions that led to today.

[Michael Bisping art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

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