All of Chael Sonnen‘s tough talk that Wanderlei Silva has been ducking him for years could arguably have some merit, based on the latest update on the potential grudge match by UFC President Dana White.
White told MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that negotiations for this heavily anticipated matchup have come to a standstill since “The Axe Murderer” wants PPV points in order to fight Sonnen.
“[Silva] said he won’t fight him unless he gets PPV [points] so I guess he’s gonna retire,” White said to Helwani through a text message. When asked what he plans on doing with Sonnen next, White wrote, “we will figure it out.”
The news is particularly disappointing since on last night’s episode of “FOX Sports Live,” White announced that he would like to book Sonnen vs. Silva as the co-main event for UFC 167 in November, as long as Wanderlei was healthy (via MMA Junkie).
However, it appears that the Brazilian fan favorite is ready to fight—as long as he’s getting a hefty paycheck for his efforts.
Sonnen made it very clear that he wanted to fight Silva next, giving a spirited post-fight interview with color commentator Joe Rogan after submitting Mauricio Rua at UFC Fight Night 26 last week (via UFC.com).
In the five days since then, Silva has been mostly silent on the issue, aside from a tweet on Sunday that said “UFC haven’t called yet!!!!!,” indicating he was waiting for a fight offer from the company.
After tapping “Shogun” with a guillotine choke, Sonnen is just 3-3 in his past six bouts, though he is a solid 8-1 in his past nine non-title fights.
On the other hand, Silva has won three of his past five scraps inside the Octagon, though is just 4-5 in his past nine matchups, being inconsistent ever since making the transition from the Pride ring in late 2007.
Despite being a reasonable middleweight or light heavyweight matchup for the better part of the past two years, there is now serious doubt that Sonnen and Silva ever settle their differences inside the cage.
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com.
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