According to the UFC's Twitter feed and multiple other reports, UFC 136 has it's first official bout. UFC middleweights Brian Stann and Chael Sonnen will meet in Houston, Texas on October 8th at the Toyota Center as part of the event's fight card. No word on whether this event will headline, although typically those bouts that are announced first ultimately serve prominent roles on the card.
Stann enters this bout having fought twice already in 2011. He defeated Chris Leben by first-round TKO at UFC 125 in January. Most recently, he stopped Jorge Santiago at UFC 130 in May in the second round, also by TKO.
Sonnen will face Stann after not having fought for over a year. His last UFC and MMA fight took place at UFC 117 in August of 2010 against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Sonnen lost that bout by submission in the fifth round. He has since been mired in suspensions with the California and Nevada State Athletic Commissions due to testosterone use and procedure. His suspension with the CSAC ended in late June, freeing him to apply in other states for a bout.
Sonnen told the CSAC at a special May hearing to assess whether he perjured himself in his previous January hearing that not lifting his suspension would mean he was "effectively retired" from the sport, allegedly per the words of UFC President Dana White. That statement appears to be either false or White has had a sudden change of heart.
The UFC 136 fight card is as follows: