The highly-anticipated Chael Sonnen vs. Wanderlei Silva grudge match will not take place at UFC 173.
The light-heavyweight clash has been moved from May 24 in Las Vegas to May 31 in Brazil, UFC president Dana White announced on Thursday. The card will air live in the United States on Fox Sports 1 and will serve as the main event of the TUF: Brazil 3 finals. The promotion has yet to finalize which city in Brazil will host the card, however, it will not take place in a soccer stadium.
The UFC had recently announced that Sonnen-Silva would be the co-main event of UFC 173, headlined by Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort, in Las Vegas. White tried to book Alistair Overeem vs. Junior dos Santos as the new co-main event for UFC 173, but Overeem turned down the fight due to injured ribs.
Filming for TUF: Brazil 3 wraps up next week, and for a moment it seemed like Sonnen didn’t want to wait until May 31 to fight again. White told MMAFighting.com that Sonnen hounded him Wednesday evening upon hearing the news that Rashad Evans had pulled out of his UFC 170 fight against Daniel Cormier and asked to fill the void.
“Get the posters fixed. Change the commercials. I’m on my way to Vegas,” Sonnen texted White.
That fight won’t happen, though.
Silva and Sonnen have been entangled in a bitter feud for over two years. Below is a fan-made video of their history.