Photo by Tracy Lee for Yahoo! Sports
UFC President Dana White confirmed with ESPN’s Jim Rome during a television interview earlier this week, that UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva would indeed face former No. 1 contender Chael Sonnen again.
“It’s the fight that everybody wants to see. People want to see Chael vs. Anderson. Anderson is in this position where he feels like the guy is so disrespectful he doesn’t want to give him a shot. But Anderson will end up fighting Chael. The answer is yes.”
White offered no timeline for the rematch, which will certainly take some negotiation on his part to get the champ agree too.
Both fighters faced off two summers ago at UFC 117 on Aug. 7, 2010. Sonnen dominated ‘The Spider’ for four-plus rounds before being submitted at 3:10 of the final championship round.
Silva has gone on to defend his title twice, while Sonnen was slapped with a suspension for elevated testosterone levels.
After sitting for more than a year, Sonnen returned to the Ocatagon against Brian Stann last month, dominating the former Marine Captain in their UFC 136 bout by earning a second round submission win.
During his post fight speech, Sonnen challenged Silva to a rematch at the upcoming Super Bowl weekend event.
“Anderson Silva, you absolutely suck. I’m calling you out, Silva, but I’m upping the stakes. I beat you and you leave the division. You beat me and I leave the UFC forever.”
Silva has not accepted the challenge.