As expected, Chael Sonnen up next for UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva

[No More Sorrow]

As expected, Chael Sonnen will be the next fighter to challenge for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva's title.

UFC president Dana White confirmed the plans on Wednesday's edition of "The Jim Rome Show."

However, no date has been selected for the long-awaited rematch because Silva currently is recovering from a shoulder injury.

"It's the fight everyone wants to see," White said. "People want to see Chael vs. Anderson. Anderson is in this position where he feels this guy is so disrespectful he doesn't want to give him a shot and everything else, but Anderson will end up fighting Chael Sonnen."

Although Silva vs. Sonnen II was always the plan, fellow contender Mark Munoz's recent shellacking of Chris Leben in this past weekend's UFC 138 main event may have cast some doubt on it. Munoz, who's now 6-1 over his past seven fights, immediately campaigned for a title shot after the second-round TKO.

After the event, though, White made it sound unlikely that Munoz would get to cut in line.

Of course, Sonnen did some campaigning of his own recently. After submitting Brian Stann at UFC 136, Sonnen made the champ a boastful proposition (though he later said the offer is off the table).

"Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck," Sonnen said at the Oct. 8 event. "Super Bowl weekend, the biggest rematch in the history of the business. I'm calling you out Silva, but we're upping the stakes.

"I beat you, (and) you leave the division. You beat me, and I will leave the UFC forever."

Sonnen isn't willing to fulfill those terms now, but he clearly got under the skin of Team Silva.

Silva (29-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) and Sonnen (26-11-1 MMA, 5-4 UFC) first met 14 months ago at UFC 117 and delivered a fight for the ages. Sonnen dominated the action for four rounds before getting caught in a triangle choke midway through the fifth and final round. The pair was scheduled to meet again early this year, but the immediate rematch was nixed when the California State Athletic Commission suspended Sonnen for elevated levels of testosterone.

Currently, Silva is recovering from bursitis in his shoulder. Although the UFC returns to his native Brazil on Jan. 14 for UFC 142, even UFC 143 on Super Bowl weekend (Feb. 4) would be a quick turnaround after the champ's recovery and a full training camp

MMAJunkie.com

 

[Troy]

Bit soft of Sonnen to back down on those terms, thought he would be a man of his word. No brainer to book this rematch after Sonnen defeated Stann who was close to a title shot himself before that loss. I still can't see Sonnen winning the fight, he may have dominated the early rounds but Silva was never really in big trouble and was able to cleanly submit him at the end.

 

[Slim]

A healthy Silva is someone that cannot be beat. A testosterone ridden Sonnen could not finish Silva off in their fight. This Silva already proved that he could force Sonnen to tap and that was after Sonnen wanted to mock the Nog's black belt in bjj. so now that he proved that the Nog's bjj is effective... I'm expecting Silva to K the F Out of Sonnen. Probably a round 2 K the F Out. I'm not expecting a simple KO as you can tell. This is gonna be brutal cause Sonnen is gonna talk so much smack that its gonna be brutal. Probably gonna take him out in a way we haven't seen yet. I'm giving Sonnen little chance to win this one.

 

[Troy]

I can't wait to see an angry Silva seeking revenge being released on Sonnen. I hope that he does KO him or put him in a brutal submission to end the fight. Sonnen needs to shut up especially if he is going to go through with what he says.