January 5, 2011, 6:00 PM ET

http://blogs.wsj.com/corruption-currents/2011/01/05/ufc-fighter-pleads-guilty-to-money-laundering/

An Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight competitor may be out of the octagon for a while.

On Monday, only a few months after nearly beating middleweight champion Anderson Silva, 33-year-old Chael Sonnen pleaded guilty in Oregon to one count of money laundering for conducting a financial transaction he knew was designed to conceal a wire fraud. Sonnen, who is a licensed realtor in the state, helped two others create a false mortgage application connected to the purchase of a home in Portland, Ore.

Sonnen, according to a statement announcing the plea, signed a false addendum letter to the application calling for the title company to pay loan proceeds to a plumbing company for repairs. Once the loan was funded, the title company paid more than $69,000 to the plumbing company and the plumbing company, in turn and at Sonnen’s direction, paid $65,000 to the buyer of the home, the statement said.

He is scheduled to be sentenced March 28 and faces up to 20 years in prison, but the U.S. Attorney who prosecuted the case told the L.A. Times that the plea deal calls for two years probation, a $10,000 fine and a revocation of his real estate license.

The Times also talked to the head of the UFC, who said he has no immediate plans to schedule Sonnen’s next fight.