Chael Sonnen's Appeal to the CSAC Will Occur on December 2nd

It certainly didn't take Sonnen 30 days to respond to the California State Athletic Commission's notice about testing positive for testosterone, now did it?

FanHouse MMA's Ariel Helwani reports that Sonnen's camp has issued an official statement, and on December 2nd, the day of the CSAC's next meeting, Sonnen's case will be heard.

The former UFC Middleweight title contender was first given a notice from CSAC officials of this startling news late this past Saturday night, and the news has spread like wildfire for the past couple of days with many speculating if Sonnen would comment on the news.

Fans have been in shock of this news ever since it first broke, with some believing that if Sonnen either didn't appeal or was denied his appeal, the previously planned rematch with Anderson Silva—slated for UFC 125 at the earliest—would be scrapped until a later date.

Some also feel that this news, if the appeal is denied, would be enough to restore any credence lost in Silva during his UFC 117 title defense against Sonnen, in which he was dominated by Sonnen for all but the last two minutes of the fight.

The fact that the tests proved positive for testosterone has driven home the question of whether it was really Sonnen's pure ability as a fighter or an assist from the elevated testosterone levels in his body that helped him do what not even Sonnen's Team Quest teammate Dan Henderson could do and physically dissect the Spider in what was thought by fans to be an easy fight for Silva.

Then again, when was there ever such a thing as "an easy fight" with Chael Sonnen?

Whatever the event, all that Sonnen had done seems to have been temporarily overshadowed by this developing series of events, which is slowly making sense to those who were questioning how Sonnen would be able to back up his words in such a dominating fashion against the man who was something of a favorite coming into their fight.

As tends to be the case in MMA, this current situation could be subject to change if the CSAC approves Sonnen's appeal and cuts his suspension time of a year in half to just six months, a la Sean Sherk.

It's not going to be easy, even for an articulate type like Sonnen, but it's worth a shot.