Retired mixed martial artist Chael Sonnen is headlined to return on pay-per-view not for a match but to team up with ex-WWE announcer Jim Ross on the commentary for BattleGrounds MMA on October 3 at the BOK Center.

Sonnen's involvement with the BattleGrounds event is observably for the purpose of selling more pay-per-views. The event will feature an 8-man tournament in the welterweight division. It will headline a lot of former UFC fighters like Brock Larson, Cody McKenzie, David Mitchell, Luigi Fioravanti, Roan Carneiro, and Trey Houston.

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On the other hand, Chris Honeycutt and Dennis Hallman backed out of the tournament, with replacements still not named.

The hiring of Ross and Sonnen made a lot of noise and publicity needed for the event.

"The American Gangster" expressed his excitement to work with Ross stating that their tandem will make the said MMA event, "one of the most exciting extravaganzas in combat sports history".

Ross reciprocated the credit by saying that the broadcasting gig for an MMA event combined with working with Sonnen at cageside "makes it an ideal opportunity and a bucket list experience".

A couple of weeks back between May and June, Sonnen was out of UFC and Fox Sports after testing positive for performance enhancing drugs twice. Also, the incident led to him to a 2-year suspension by the Nevada State Athletic Commission.

The said event will mark Sonnen's first appearance in television after being fired by Fox. Podcast interviews of the 37-year-old stated that he will compete in Metamoris next month in Southern California.

Predictions about the fights are definitely difficult to say. However, entertainment is expected on the broadcast table with two guys with wrestling backgrounds. Ross served as an announcer in professional wrestling and Sonnen had been involved with sports-entertainment through playing as a heel character for the last few years.

Tagschael sonnen, jim ross, battlegrounds mma, ppv, broadcasting