Chael Sonnen Not Expecting to Be Approved to Ref Weidman vs Silva 2

Can you imagine Chael Sonnen refereeing a UFC fight this year?

Of course you can, we all could. That's exactly what Sonnen has set out to do. And not just any fight, he wants to oversee the Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva rematch on December 28 at UFC 168 in Las Vegas.

Sonnen told Sherdog Radio that he intends to apply to referee the fight, but isn't holding out much hope that he'd be called upon to do so.

"I don't think they're going to put me in, but it's an application," Sonnen told Sherdog. "It's 25 bucks. I've done a lot of officiating."

This may very well be another bit by Sonnen to get some intrigue and laughter from his fans. I nearly spit my drink on the keyboard when I read he was considering doing this, and perhaps I'm late to the party, but I don't know where "The Bad Guy" has been spending his time reffing.

Sonnen has stated he has refereed in other jurisdictions, although my research (as brief as it may have been) couldn't lead me to even one fight in which he was listed as the referee. That's not to say he hasn't done it, it just appears that the fights must be for "jurisdictions" flying completely under the radar.

Of course, the chances of an active fighter being able to referee a major event such as UFC 168 aren't great. In fact, I'd be very surprised if being an active fighter within the promotion didn't exclude one from refereeing a fight within that same organization. The conflict of interest would be too great.

While we probably won't see Chael taking turns with Herb Dean inside the Octagon this year, we can still hold out some hope that he'll find a way in there after he's done fighting.

It seems like everything Sonnen touches turns to gold.

Joe Chacon is a MMA Columnist for Bleacher Report and The MMA Corner. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.