MMA Fighter and Would-be Pol Sonnen Sentenced

By NIGEL JAQUISS

The odd saga of one-time Republican House candidate Chael Sonnen came to at least a temporary end today when Sonnen was sentenced on federal mortgage fraud charges (details below).

In an indirect way, the GOP in Oregon may have benefited from the legal problems that surfaced in 2010 for Sonnen, a leading mixed martial arts fighter. Sonnen never mounted much of a campaign last year in House District 37 (West Linn) for the seat held by state Rep. Scott Bruun, a Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Congress.

At the time, Sonnen was busy training for an Aug. 7, 2010 world middleweight title bout with champion Anderson Silva. Prior to the fight, Sonnen tweeted  about Silva, a Brazilian and other MMA fighters trained by Ed Soares, calling them a "piglet tribe of savages." (Silva won the bout.)

Sonnen mysteriously dropped out of the legislative race mid-June, citing then-unspecified legal difficulties. Those difficulties turned out to be allegations of mortgage fraud.

Sonnen's departure from the race, however, turned into a blessing for the GOP. Julie Parrish—an unheralded but more importantly, noncontroversial newcomer from West Linn—replaced Sonnen as the Republican candidate. She ended up running a focused campaign, defeating Democrat Will Rasmussen despite being outspent $575,000 to $350,000. So while Sonnen had a tough time with Silva and an even tougher time with the law, he can take some credit for Republicans picking up a hotly contested seat and gaining a first-ever 30-30 split with Democrats in the Oregon House.

Here's today's statement on the sentencing from the U.S. Attorney's office:

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