Chael Sonnen ‘can’t recall’ violence that led to 11 charges, including strangulation

Chael Sonnen claims that he has zero memory of the Las Vegas altercation that led to 11 charges, including felony battery by strangulation.

In December 2021, police arrived at Luxor Hotel and Casino to detain the UFC icon. According to witnesses, the fighter began hammering on a door at 7 PM, and when his targets opened up, Sonnen attacked them, which prompted concerned guests to ring the authorities.

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Video footage showed the police arriving and removing Sonnen from the building in handcuffs, but he was not arrested. However, he did receive five counts of misdemeanour battery, but on January 27, all charges were dropped.

Despite this, on March 22, a district attorney charged Sonnen based on new revelations from the night in question.

Read: Chael Sonne blasts Nascar “insanity” as he backs Jake Paul for success.

Why has Chael Sonnen received new charges?

As per TMZ, documents obtained from the police suggest that the former middleweight title contender allegedly threw a woman into a light fixture and struck her, which caused her lip to start bleeding.

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After his fight with the inhabitants of the room, a couple ran into Sonnen in the hallway, and the 44-year-old got instantly aggressive. Cops claim that the martial artist assaulted Christopher Stellpflug while wearing a white robe and a bloodied T-shirt. He allegedly knocked a glass out of his hand before driving him to the floor and punching him repeatedly.

The man’s wife, Julie Stellpfulg, attempted to intervene, but then Sonnen assaulted her. A guard then allegedly arrived at the scene, and the former UFC star punched him in the throat. But despite the extreme events, the offender doesn’t remember a single thing.

Why Chael Sonnen doesn’t recall anything

When the police questioned the sportsman about the incident, he claimed that he’d taken a sleeping pill before the altercation and “could not recall anything else.”

As of right now, the details as to why the initial assault took place are unconfirmed. Although during his podcast, ‘Below the Belt’, Brendan Schaub claimed he knew why Sonnen initially lost his cool.

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He said: “Here’s what happened. Chael was obviously working, and he was with his wife, and his wife is a f***ing saint and also a dime piece. And some drunk guy with his girl kept making comments about his wife, saying about her t**s, her a**, right in front of him.

“Well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes, cause you are talking and disrespecting one of the toughest guys on the planet and definitely one of the toughest ever to compete in the UFC or Bellator, for that matter.

“And you’re doing it in front of his face, so there’s gonna be repercussions. And any guy that wouldn’t do that, girls, you got a girlfriend.

“So I think by Chael doing this, it just adds to the legend of Chael Sonnen. He was protecting his girl. And for that dumbass who got absolutely annihilated by the great Chael Sonnen, you deserved it, man. And that’s what you get. So you play stupid games, win stupid prizes.”

However, there’s nothing to prove whether Schaub’s story is factually accurate. Fans will have to wait until more information comes out to get a complete picture of exactly what happened.

Dropped charges

An update to the case occurred on March 30, 2022, when Sonnen had five of the charges dropped against him after a court hearing, MMA Fighting reported.

It appears as though the strangulation charge has been dropped, leaving six misdemeanour counts.

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