Three-time UFC title challenger Chael Sonnen has been linked to a grudge match with Wanderlei Silva for months now, but the West Linn, Ore., native still believes the matchup is never going to happen.
The light heavyweight scrap had a venue change for a third time earlier this week when it was pushed back to the co-main event of UFC 175 on July 5, per Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports.
Even prior to the latest announcement regarding the fight, The American Gangster wasn’t shy in expressing his pessimism about the bout happening:
Contest Announcement: Be the first to name the fake injury Wanderlei uses to weasel out of our fight…
— chael sonnen (@sonnench) April 1, 2014
Then, Thursday, after the fight had again been officially postponed, Sonnen cracked on his Brazilian counterpart:
CAN-derlei asked Dana to postpone our fight until “July 32nd”
— chael sonnen (@sonnench) April 11, 2014
Sonnen and The Axe Murderer are currently coaching opposite one another on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3, where the bad blood boiled over to the point that the two rivals got into an impromptu brawl on the set, according to Iole.
It’s been rumored Silva and Sonnen would finally settle their differences in the Octagon since August, when the two were linked to headline UFC Fight Night 26. Of course, the matchup never came to fruition, and Sonnen instead squared off with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Uncle Chael won the bout in the first round with a guillotine choke.
As recently as a month ago, UFC president Dana White confirmed that Sonnen vs. Silva was still not signed, though that apparently changed about a week and a half later.
Sonnen hasn’t fought since he suffered a TKO at the hands of Rashad Evans at UFC 167 in November. Silva, meanwhile, has been on the sidelines for over a year since he scored a vintage knockout over Brian Stann at UFC on Fuel 8 last March.
Will Sonnen vs. Silva ever actually go down as scheduled, or is Sonnen correct in stating this fight is basically dead in the water?
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA editor for eDraft.com.
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