Credit: MMA Frenzy

UFC middleweight Chael Sonnen has finished his suspension from the California State Athletic Commission and is now free to apply for a license that would clear him to return to the Octagon.

“He can be removed from the suspension list and he is able to re-apply to any agency or any commission,” CSAC executive George Dodd told MMAFighting. “In California he would have to appear before the Commission before the Commission would license, [otherwise] it would be up to that commission or licensing agency.”

Sonnen will meet with the UFC on Thursday to plan out his return, which will come more than one year after nearly upsetting middleweight champ Anderson Silva in August only to be submitted in the final round.

Following the loss, Sonnen tested positive for elevated testosterone, but had his suspension reduced from one-year to six-months by citing hormone replacement therapy, the same treatments that caused Nate Marquardt to be released by the UFC. After pleading guilty to money laundering charges, Sonnen was suspended until June 29 for false statements made in his initial appear.

Sonnen confirmed his impending return on Tuesday night in typical fashion:

“I can finally get back to the most important thing in my life. Defending my Middleweight Championship.”