Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva moves from UFC 173 to May 31 in Brazil
A light-heavyweight bout between Chael Sonnen (28-14-1 MMA, 7-6 UFC) and Wanderlei Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC) will no longer co-headline UFC 173.
Instead, UFC officials today announced that the bout will now headline a May 31 event in Brazil. The show, likely to be part of the UFC Fight Night series, doesn’t currently have a venue or host city. However, those details, as well as broadcast plans, are expected shortly.
A reason wasn’t given for the move.
Their original bout at UFC 173 was slated to take place a week prior and air on pay-per-view.
Sonnen and Silva are serving as coaches on “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3,†which is currently in production.
Sonnen, a former middleweight title challenger, is coming off a TKO loss to Rashad Evans in a 205-pound bout at UFC 167 in November. That dropped him back into the loss column after a “Submission of the Night†win over Mauricio “Shogun†Rua in August, a win that snapped a two-fight skid of title losses to then-middleweight champ Anderson Silva and light-heavyweight titleholder Jon Jones.
Wanderlei Silva has not fought in nearly a year. This past March, the vet stopped Brian Stann with a second-round “Knockout of the Night†in Japan, where he made his name fighting for PRIDE. “The Axe Murderer†will be chasing his first winning streak since 2005-2006.
