Chael Sonnen’s recent altercation in the hallway of a hotel in Vegas was initially disregarded as just a “scuffle” between Sonnen and drunk individuals harassing Sonnen’s wife. However, a recent lawsuit filed by the alleged victims paints a very very disturbing picture.
Sonnen was charged this month with a felony count of battery by strangulation and 10 misdemeanor counts of battery-related to the alleged attack.
As reported by the Las Vegas Review Journal. The alleged victims filed a lawsuit against the former UFC ace.
According to them, Sonnen repeatedly punched them without provocation in a hallway of a Las Vegas hotel.
The victims made a public statement for the first time. Christopher Stellpflug, a 48-year-old dentist from California stated that he and his wife, Julie Stellpflug, were walking back to their hotel room when they saw an apparently intoxicated man “uttering unintelligible noises.”
That man was later identified as Chael Sonnen.
The lawsuit states that as the couple walked past him, Sonnen knocked a drink out of Christopher Stellpflug’s hand “without provocation or any communication whatsoever.”.
Julie Stellpflug reportedly told Sonnen that they were just trying to get to their room and “did not want any trouble.” The lawsuit states that the former UFC title challenger then proceeded to punch Dr. Stellpflug multiple times in the head. His wife then screamed for help as Chael put her husband in a chokehold.
Another hotel guest came to aid the couple by trying to get Mr. Stellpflug out of the choke. According to the lawsuit, Sonnen then began elbowing this individual in the face.
The lawsuit written by lawyer Kory Kaplan states that after that, Sonnen turned his attention to Julie Stellpflug, and proceeded to attack her.
Julie Stellpflug is 5 ft 3 inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. Meanwhile, Chael Sonnen used to perform in the heavyweight division.
“I’m still very shaken up, and emotional, and still quite terrified actually,” Julie Stellpflug said. The woman fell to the floor after Sonnen allegedly threw her against the wall.
Just moments before the attack on the Stellpflugs, another hotel guest was attacked. A guest at the same hotel told police that he left his room and was punched “out of nowhere” by Sonnen. The guest then ran back to his room and called security.
The lawsuit states that Sonnen later attacked several of the security staff from the Hotel. The staff showed up in an attempt to break up the altercation between Sonnen and the Stellpflugs.
The police report indicated that five people, including the Stellpflugs, suffered “apparent minor injury.”
To this date, Chael Sonnen has not spoken about the incident. However, Brendan Schaub mentioned the altercation in his podcast.
“Some drunk guy with his girl kept making comments about (Sonnen’s wife, Brittany), saying about her (body parts) right in front of him,” Schaub said.
“Well, play stupid games, win stupid prizes, cause you are talking and disrespecting one of the toughest guys on the planet and definitely one of the toughest ever to compete in the UFC or Bellator for that matter. And you’re doing it in front of his face, then there’s gonna be repercussions.”
However, the police reports state that Brittany Sonnen was asleep for the entirety of the altercation.
Brittany stated that she had taken a sleeping pill and only woke up as security guards were escorting her out of her room.
A police officer also reported that Brittany Sonnen appeared to be injured, but she did not know how she acquired her injuries.
“I then began to question Brittany on how she obtained her injuries, but she was unsure about how she obtained them,” the report states. “I then further questioned her about any possible domestic disputes or violence between her and her husband where Brittany stated that Chael has never been violent with her.”
Christopher Stellpflug stated that Brendan Schaub’s version of the events really angered him and that listening to it motivated him to try to “get the truth out there”.
“I just want people to know it was a totally unprovoked attack,” said Dr. Stellpflug.
“We were just walking into our room to plan a sushi dinner. We did nothing wrong, and this guy went on a crazy rampage.”