Chael Sonnen vs. Nick Diaz almost happened this weekend

This Sunday, former UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen returns to the mats when he grapples with top ranked UFC middleweight Michael Bisping at UR Fight.

The event is more likely than not, unlike anything fight fans have ever witnessed. Also on the card, Roy Jones Jr. will box a fan, Kurt Angle will have a wrestling match with Rey Mysterio Jr., and at one point Dan Severn and Tank Abbott were even slated to have an MMA fight.

Sonnen spoke to MMAFighting to discuss the event, and how he had to find his own opponent for the grappling match.

“I was kind of tasked with it. I was their connection to MMA,” Sonnen said. “So the first guy I called was Randy Couture, and he accepted instantly. Then, while we were still on the phone, he went and looked at his calendar and was like, ‘hey, I can’t even be in the state, I have (to film) a movie in a whole other state, I can’t be in Arizona.’ So he was out. I went to Forrest (Griffin). Forrest liked the idea, but he’s an executive at Zuffa right now, or whatever he is, and he didn’t think he could go anywhere else.

“I went to Rashad (Evans); Rashad had a fight with Shogun (Rua) lined up. I went to Nick Diaz. Nick loved it. Nick was in. But then I didn’t hear back from him. We didn’t hear in time, and I was kind of telling him, hey, this is a rushed deal. I was getting ready to leave town myself to go film Celebrity Apprentice and I had to have it done in like 30 minutes. That didn’t work out. So I called Bisping and he accepted instantly, and that was it.”

When asked if he thinks Bisping has a chance of winning the grappling match, Sonnen said:

“Oh, he has no chance. He has absolutely no chance. I will lay on top of him for 15 minutes and then go home. I might submit him. I’m certainly going to try, but he’s not going to go anywhere. I’m going to take him down and whisper in his ear: ‘welcome to the next 15 minutes of your life.'”