Chael Sonnen-Wanderlei Silva being targeted for July in Las Vegas
NEW YORK – It’s not yet set in stone, but UFC President Dana White hopes the planned fight between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva will make its way to Las Vegas.
And in an ideal world, the fight would fall right under a middleweight title fight between champion Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort.
Sonnen and Silva currently are coaching opposite each other in Brazil on that country’s third season of “The Ultimate Fighter,†and already there has been trouble in paradise. The two heated rivals got into a scuffle during taping earlier this week.
As is customary with coaches on the reality series, Sonnen (28-14-1 MMA, 6-5 UFC) and Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC) are set to fight at the season’s conclusion. Until Thursday, the UFC hadn’t committed on a direction to go with the fight – either in the United States, or in Silva’s home country of Brazil.
But White wants to see the fight on the UFC’s Independence Day weekend card in Las Vegas. While not yet officially announced, that event is likely to be UFC 175 on July 5.
“It will happen here,†White told MMAjunkie at Madison Square Garden in New York following a media event for Saturday’s UFC 169. “It will probably be on the same card as the Weidman-Vitor fight.â€
But that title fight is up in the air, as well. This past month, after beating Anderson Silva a second time, Weidman told MMAjunkie he hopes to fight Belfort in May so he can have a full summer. The UFC wants that fight either in May in Las Vegas, or in July in Sin City – and apparently is still hashing out the fine print.
“It’s May or July. I think it’s going to be May, which means it will be July now that I said that. I don’t know. One of them,†White today told MMAjunkie.
A source with knowledge of the booking talks told MMAjunkie that the July date for both the Sonnen-Silva fight and Weidman-Belfort fight was “possible, but not confirmed.†The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly on the ongoing talks.
For what it’s worth, Sonnen seems to be under the impression he’ll be fighting in Las Vegas once again this July. Earlier this month, he tweeted from Brazil encouraging followers to retweet one of Silva’s tweets to “keep him relevant until I can retire him in July.â€
