"First of all, just to clear this up, and these guys – Dan Henderson knows it, Chael knows it, and every other fighter that fights in the UFC knows it – you can't fake an injury," White today told MMAjunkie following a UFC 140 pre-event press conference in Toronto. "It's impossible to do. You can't do it.
"When you say you are injured, we bring you to our doctors, and they check you out, and we find out if you're injured or not injured."
Silva, of course, defeated Sonnen in a dramatic five-round affair at this past August's UFC 117 event. Sonnen has since angled for a rematch with the champ.
After serving a brief suspension for failing a UFC 117 post-fight drug screen, Sonnen earned a second shot at the champ by easily dispatching of Brian Stann at October's UFC 136 event.
Unfortunately, Silva has been nursing a shoulder injury and will not be available until summer 2012, at the earliest. Sonnen now meets fast-rising contender Mark Munoz at January's UFC on FOX 2 event. While it's an extra step on Sonnen's attempt to climb to the top op the middleweight division ladder, White made it clear it was Sonnen's decision on whether to fight on or wait for Silva to heal.
"He said, 'I'm not waiting for this guy,'" White said. "He said, 'I'm not waiting for this guy. I want to fight.'"
Sonnen, himself, said as much at a Wednesday presser in Chicago held to promote the Jan. 28 event, which also sees Michael Bisping face Demian Maia in another key 185-pound affair.
"I'm not going to change my schedule around just to kick his ass," Sonnen said. "I'm not waiting for him or anybody else. If I'm not the best guy and Mark is, then God bless him, and he can go have the shot. But Anderson's not going to fight me in American, in Brazil, in Antarctica, in his kitchen while I'm trying to get a decent Brazilian steak.
"He is not going to fight me, and don't fall for the hype that he is."
Whether or not that turns out to be true remains to be seen. First, Sonnen must get past Munoz. However, in the interim, White wants to make it perfectly clear that his middleweight champion is not trying to pull a fast one.
"He is injured," White said. "He's out until the summer. That's just those guys yapping."
