Middleweight title contender, Chael Sonnen, gave current champion Anderson Silva a beat down of epic proportions.  Both, verbally in the months leading up to the bout and in the Octagon at UFC 117, where Sonnen dominated Silva in the striking department, and when the wrestler decided to take the fight to the ground, he smothered Silva and punished him by constantly peppering the champ with blows to the head and body. 

After shockingly dominating Silva for 23 minutes, landing more blows to the Brazilian fighter than the champ had accumulated in his entire UFC career, Silva threw up a last-resort, title-saving triangle choke from his back, keeping the 35-year-old's remarkable 12-fight win-streak alive. 

Silva was completely overshadowed in victory, however, as Sonnen not only talked the talk, but walked the walk and did so convincingly.  So much so that UFC president Dana White decided to give Sonnen an immediate rematch that was tentatively slated to take place Super Bowl weekend.

Just one problem -- Sonnen failed not one, but two urinalysis tests for PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs) after having abnormally high testosterone levels.

This normally wouldn't in respect to an MMA fighter's livelihood but Sonnen constantly preached about being a hard worker, ethical, wanting to get into politics to help get rid of corruption and lies and basically, every stance one could take against steroids without actually coming out and saying it.  When you say things about Lance Armstrong going out and cheating [implying steroid use] and thus gave himself cancer, you better be certain that there isn't something even remotely close to performance enhancers in your system. 

Here's a guy in Sonnen who put together an impressive three-fight win-streak leading up to the title shot and, in my opinion, did a better job selling a pay-per-view than any fighter in UFC history, and it was all for nothing.

Sonnen's legacy will not only be tainted in his performance against Silva but his dominant wins over Yusin Okami and Nate Marquardt will have an asterisk by them as well. 

What's even more crippling to Sonnen's career is the fact that he's lost the one thing he seemed to pride most -- his credibility.

His world-class trash-talking lost its luster the day the California State Athletic Commission released his failed results and the steroid cloud will follow him for the rest of his career -- just ask Sean Sherk.  The big difference being that Sherk is a low-key guy that doesn't talk a lot of trash and invite a microscope like Sonnen calls for. 

Sonnen will likely be suspended for a year, and by then, who knows where the middleweight division will be.  Silva is set to take on Vitor Belfort at a yet to be determined date but most likely still Super Bowl weekend and Marquardt and Okami will fight at UFC 122 to face the winner of Silva-Belfort. 

It would be a terrible PR move for the UFC to give Sonnen another crack at Silva fresh off a steroid suspension and who knows if Sonnen can even financially survive a year away from fighting after making just $35,000 in base salary and receiving no percentage of the pay-per-view buys.  The next thing that always goes for a an athlete following a scandal are sponsors, which is another devastating financial hit.

Some still might argue that PEDs are well worth the risk of getting caught, suspended and losing a lot of money for a crack at a belt, as the reward outweighs the risk, but it surely doesn't seem that way in the case of 34-year-old Chael Sonnen.