This is (still) interesting.

Despite being the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) light heavyweight No. 1 contender and having a title bout against champion Jon Jones slated for next Saturday night (April 27, 2013) at UFC 159, Chael Sonnen says he currently isn't signed to an official contract with the organization.

Moreover, Sonnen claims he never signed a bout agreement when he faced off with current UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the biggest fight of 2012 at UFC 148, and hasn't signed one for his upcoming bout with Jones, either.

In a recent interview with former WWE superstar Stone Cold Steve Austin on "The Steve Austin Show," Sonnen revealed he did not sign bout agreements for "The Spider" or "Bones" and his contract with the world's premier mixed martial arts (MMA) organization expired four months ago.

"I never, to this day I don't have a contract to fight Anderson Silva," Sonnen stated in the interview. "I never signed an agreement that said I would fight him, we never picked a dollar amount, we never picked a weight class. Nothing. I told those guys I would show up and I did.

"They never had a contract with me, they said what they would do and they did. My UFC contract expired about four months ago, I don't know if they just haven't realized it because they're so busy, or if they just know they don't need one with me. But, I got a world title fight coming up, we've got a sold out venue -- I don't have a piece of paper with my name on it or Jon Jones' or anything else, but I don't need one either."

Sonnen did not seem the slightest bit concerned about his contract status just over a week away from the arguably the biggest fight of his career.

The 35-year-old is confident with his relationship with UFC President Dana White and knows that if shows up on fight night and lives up to his end of the bargain, the UFC will do the same.

"I will be there, I said I would be there, and that is how they do business," said Sonnen. "If Dana White says something then that's it."

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