Chael Sonnen announces the return of Submission Underground
Chael Sonnen has announced that his grappling promotion, Submission Underground, will return to action this May.
After a nearly five-year hiatus, Submission Underground (SUG) will return this May. On Wednesday, SUG president Chael Sonnen announced on social media that the next SUG event is set to take place in Brazil on May 17.
“Florianopolis, Brazil. Submission Underground is coming back. May 17. This is going to be no-gi grappling, tournament-style. More details to follow.”
Currently, no other details regarding the return of SUG have been made public, including the ruleset, potential competitors, or where the event will be broadcast.
SUG held its first event in 2017, and over the next several years, would employ a blend of professional grapplers and top-level MMA fighters to become one of the sport’s most prominent and popular promotions. Early SUG events saw intriguing matchups such as Jake Shields versus Gilbert Burns, Craig Jones versus Anthony Johnson, and Gordon Ryan versus Gabriel Gonzaga. All SUG events took place in Portland, Oregon.
During the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, SUG was one of the few grappling promotions that continued to produce events. During that time, elite competitor Mason Fowler rose to prominence as the promotion’s top star, as he would defeat Craig Jones and enjoy a dominant winning streak as the SUG absolute champion. Now the reigning UFC BJJ light heavyweight champion, Fowler also owns SUG victories over Kyle Chambers, Vinny Magalhaes, and Roberto Jimenez, among others.
In the main event of the last SUG event in December 2021, ADCC and CJI veteran Andy Varela submitted former UFC middleweight champion Sean Strickland.
Previous SUG events were broadcast on UFC Fight Pass and employed a modified EBI ruleset, using a five-minute regulation period.
