Chael Sonnen’s Submission Underground is heading to UFC Fight Pass on Sunday, May 12 for Submission Underground 8 at Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon. In the main event of the show, undefeated Bellator fighter Austin Vanderford, the husband of UFC star Paige VanZant, is set to take on former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields.
The event also features a number of mixed martial arts notables like former Ultimate Fighter champion Diego Sanchez, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, former lightweight champion Gilbert Melendez, and more.
Submission Underground 8 will also feature an all-female tag team jiu-jitsu match featuring Brittany Harvey and Sonia Sillan of TEAM COMBAT ARTS ACADEMY and Amanda Loewen and Vanessa Mariscal of TEAM STRAIGHT BLAST GYM.
The event will begin streaming exclusively on UFC Fight Pass beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET.
A full look at the Submission Underground 8 fight card can be seen below.
Submission Underground 8 Fight Card
- Austin Vanderford vs. Jake Shields
- Jake Ellenberger vs. Diego Sanchez
- Frank Mir vs. Fabiano Scherner
- Dennis Hallman vs. Craig Jones
- Pat Healy vs. Gilbert Melendez
- Brittany Harvey and Sonia Sillan vs. Amanda Loewen and Vanessa Mariscal
Submission Underground previously aired on Flo Combat. The promotion officially launched by the former UFC championship contender in 2016.
“When I left MMA, I started getting into grappling. I got to go wrestle at Metamoris. I had a great experience. I caught on pretty quick that the participants for grappling outdo MMA about 15 to 1. I go into the gym, we’ve got a couple hundred people there. I used to be at MMA gyms, we have six, seven, eight guys in the room. So I realized, ‘Geez, we’ve got all these participants. These guys need somewhere to compete’,” Sonnen said at the time, via MMA Fighting.
“Then I ended up in that spot. I started saying yes to every grappling opportunity I was given. I never said no. There just wasn’t very many out there. That was really the genesis of it: let’s just give the guys a place to compete, but we need the right partner. It’s like anything else. You’ve got to have the right partner.”