Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will box longtime division rival Chael Sonnen in the main event of Spaten Fight Night, recently made official for Sat., June 15, 2024 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The contest will be staged across five, two-minute rounds at a catchweight of 216 pounds, with both combatants wearing 14-ounce gloves.
Watch “The Spider” work out in the embedded video above.
“He offered to do MMA rules,” Sonnen said on his Good Guy/Bad Guy show. “According to them, Anderson said for Chael to pick the ruleset and it was just a situation where I’ve always wanted to box. I’ve got this thing coming up with Jorge Masvidal in October. I got Jorge in my sights. Anderson, as badly as I want to beat him and as much as I am going to go out there and beat him, it’s all a step in the process.”
Sonnen is currently feuding with former UFC welterweight Jorge Masvidal.
Silva, two years older than Sonnen at 49, already holds a pair of wins over “The American Gangster” from their days as UFC headliners. After his come-from-behind victory at UFC 117 in Oakland, “The Spider” annihilated Sonnen by second-round technical knockout in their UFC 148 rematch in Las Vegas. They later became buds by way of Brazilian barbecue.
Anderson Silva’s 25 year-old son, Kalyl Silva, will also compete this weekend in Brazil.