Wanderlei Silva out vs. Chael Sonnen, Vitor Belfort in at UFC 175
The drama of the Wanderlei Silva vs. Chael Sonnen fight has seen another turn. This time, the fight really is on hold.
Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC) will not fight Sonnen (28-14-1 MMA, 7-6 UFC) at UFC 175 in July. And in Silva’s place will step another Sonnen adversary: Vitor Belfort (24-10 MMA, 13-6 UFC).
Brazil’s Combate reported the news on Wednesday. According to the site, Silva, who lives in Las Vegas, did not attend a hearing to get licensed for the fight.
Although no official announcement has been made by the UFC, a source familiar with the event confirmed the switch with MMAjunkie. The source spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the fight.
UFC 175 takes place July 5 at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. The Silva-Sonnen fight originally was set for UFC 173. Then it moved to this week’s TUF Brazil 3 Finale in Brazil, since the two coached opposite each other on that season of “The Ultimate Fighter.†Then a Silva injury suffered in a brief on-set melee between the two fighters and their camps moved the fight to UFC 175.
But now the fight is off entirely, and whether or not it will be made in the future is completely up in the air.
Belfort’s insertion into the fight is an intriguing one. He was set to fight Chris Weidman for the middleweight title at UFC 173 just this past week. But in late February, after the Nevada State Athletic Commission banned therapeutic-use exemptions for testosterone replacement therapy, Belfort was removed from the card, citing the need for ample time to cycle off the doctor-prescribed TRT regimen he had been taking.
Lyoto Machida was put into Belfort’s slot to fight Weidman for the title. Eventually, Weidman’s need for minor knee surgery moved the fight from UFC 173 to UFC 175. But as for Belfort, the MMA world pretty much sat back to wait for when he would get some kind of clearance from the NSAC that he could get licensed.
Apparently, those questions have been answered, and Belfort has the high-profile fight he was hoping for, just not the title fight he was hoping for.
Belfort won three straight fights, all courtesy of head kicks, and all in his home country of Brazil, to get back into the title picture in the middleweight division after a light-heavyweight title fight loss to Jon Jones at UFC 152. That got him his title fight, but the NSAC’s ban on TRT left him in MMA’s version of purgatory until the NSAC was confident enough to license him. Against Sonnen, he’ll be fighting another man who has had to change up his routine thanks to the TRT ban.
Sonnen and Silva coached opposite each other on Season 3 of “TUF: Brazil,†to dramatic effect. During the season, the two got into an on-set altercation that only added to the anticipation of their fight. Sonnen has spent much of the buildup to the fight saying he never believed Silva actually would show up for the fight since he apparently had not yet signed his bout agreement. For whatever Silva’s reason behind the scenes, Sonnen wound up being right.
The two both were in Las Vegas just five days ago, though, to promote the fight. They joined a dais that included Weidman and Machida, as well as UFC 175 co-headliners Ronda Rousey and Alexis Davis, and had much to say to each other. At their faceoff, UFC President Dana White had to separate them when things threatened to escalate.
Sonnen is looking to rebound following a first-round TKO loss to Rashad Evans this past fall. In August, he had gotten back on track with a first-round submission stoppage of Mauricio Rua at UFC Fight Night 26 to snap a two-fight skid of a middleweight title loss to then-champ Anderson Silva and a light heavyweight title loss to Jon Jones.
Silva was looking to stay hot following a March 2013 knockout of Brian Stann in Japan. That victory won him “Fight of the Night†and “Knockout of the Night.†But despite his penchant for exciting fights, the UFC and PRIDE legend has dropped seven of his past 11 bouts.
After Sonnen and Silva brawled on the “TUF: Brazil 3″ set, Belfort said he was “embarrassed†by the pair’s “cat fight.†Now he has his own fight against Sonnen to prepare for.
With the change, the latest UFC 175 card includes:
Champ Chris Weidman vs. Lyoto Machida – for middleweight title
Ronda Rousey vs. Alexis Davis – for women’s bantamweight title
Vitor Belfort vs. Chael Sonnen
Alex Caceres vs. Urijah Faber
Matt Mitrione vs. Stefan Struve
Uriah Hall vs. Thiago “Marreta†Santos
Chris Camozzi vs. Bruno Santos
Guilherme Vasconcelos vs. Luke Zachrich
Ildemar Alcantara vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
Rob Font vs. TBA
