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Report: Dana White Confirms Chael Sonnen to Receive Immediate Rematch with Anderson Silva

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If you woke up on the ‘wrong side of the bed’ today (which depending on what you consumed last night could mean various things), you may be happy to find out that reports are firing around the internet, saying that Chael Sonnen will receive an immediate rematch with Anderson Silva sometime this winter. According to a report on MMA Junkie, UFC top dawg Dana White confirmed on ESPN’s SportsCenter that Silva will indeed fight Sonnen when he returns from his rib injury, although no date is apparently fixed. In addition, a ‘tweet’ from the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire (thanks to Cage Potato for the heads up), stated:

UFC will stage Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen rematch on New Year’s Eve or Super Bowl card, depending on Silva’s hurt ribs.

Pretty exciting stuff no? If you’re a Sonnen ‘booster’ then you know your boy is getting another (and really, well deserved) crack at Silva, and if you’re more about “The Spider”, then you get to see how a healthy champ fairs in the rematch (we’ll leave aside the whole ‘everyone’s injured when they fight, blah, blah, blah’ debate for another time).

So where does this leave Vitor Belfort? Who, as you likely know, has been the focus of speculation as to whether he might face Sonnen next while Silva is sidelined, well, yesterday he tweeted that he’s fighting in November. Why not see how “The Phenom” does against Yushin Okami?

Report: Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen Rematch Slated for This Winter

(The unstoppable force meets the immovable asshole. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com)
According to the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, a middleweight title rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen is being penciled in for the UFC’s next New Year’s E…

(The unstoppable force meets the immovable asshole. Photo courtesy of MMAFighting.com)

According to the LA Times’ Lance Pugmire, a middleweight title rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen is being penciled in for the UFC’s next New Year’s Eve or Super Bowl weekend card, after Silva recovers from the rib injury that reportedly plagued him before the fight. Unlike other immediate UFC title rematches that have been booked recently — see esp., Machida vs. Rua II, Penn vs. Edgar II — Silva and Sonnen’s first meeting didn’t end in a close/controversial judges’ decision. Instead, Silva sunk a triangle-armbar with less than two minutes remaining in the fifth round, after getting out-wrestled and battered for the previous four frames.

Belfort Reveals He Will Be Back in the Octagon in October and it Will Not Be Against Anderson Silva

Apparently Vitor wasn’t bullshitting when he said he isn’t waiting around for Anderson Silva to heal from his rib injury to fight the UFC middleweight champ next spring. According to the former UFC light heavyweight champion, he will take another fight in the mean time which should appease those who believe that he should at least have one fight at middleweight in the Octagon before getting a title shot.

The question is, who should he fight?

The UFC’s middleweight division has not shortage of contenders, but most of the usual suspects are already committed to fights and would have to abridge their training camps — that is if they escape their upcoming fights without any injuries.

Let’s look at the candidates for facing Belfort.

Ed Soares Responds to Being Called a Clown by Vitor Belfort and a Douchebag by Fans

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAScraps)
Ed Soares, the manager of a large contingent of the UFC’s Brazilian roster including Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, Junior Dos Santos and the Nogueira brothers, was on MMA Scraps radio last week and was asked about Vi…

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAScraps)

Ed Soares, the manager of a large contingent of the UFC’s Brazilian roster including Lyoto Machida, Anderson Silva, Junior Dos Santos and the Nogueira brothers, was on MMA Scraps radio last week and was asked about Vitor Belfort calling him a clown for mistranslating his fighters interviews.

Although he didn’t address the actual issue of him allegedly misrepresenting what his clients say on the mic in this clip, (he admits doing it in another portion of the interview) Soares did say that he has spoken to Belfort and has since "squashed" any beef they had.

Vitor Belfort Says He Won’t Wait Around for Anderson; Calls Ed Soares a Clown for Purposely Mistranslating Silva’s Interviews

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAPrime)When Chael Sonnen came within an arm’s length of tasting victory against Anderson Silva Saturday night and instead got a mouthful of Anderson Silva’s sweaty cup and his arm nearly torn off for the effort, Vitor Belfort’…

(Video courtesy YouTube/MMAPrime)

When Chael Sonnen came within an arm’s length of tasting victory against Anderson Silva Saturday night and instead got a mouthful of Anderson Silva’s sweaty cup and his arm nearly torn off for the effort, Vitor Belfort’s chances of getting the next shot at "The Spider" may have gone out the window.

Had Anderson dominated Chael or vice versa, the need for Belfort to challenge either man would never have been greater.

But since Sonnen shone a light on weaknesses in Silva that we had never seen exposed before in the dominant champ and Anderson revealed after the fight that he wasn’t firing on all cylinders due to a nagging rib injury, many fans are now clamoring for a second glimpse at these two fighters in the Octagon. Now it’s looking like if it does come to fruition, the fight may not happen until next spring.

So where does that leave Belfort?

MMA Top 10 Middleweights: Respect for Chael Sonnen

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Sengoku, Rankings, MiddleweightsI didn’t think Chael Sonnen was a serious threat to Anderson Silva, didn’t think their fight would get out of the first round and didn’t think Sonnen could even come close to backing up all…

Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Sengoku, Rankings, Middleweights

I didn’t think Chael Sonnen was a serious threat to Anderson Silva, didn’t think their fight would get out of the first round and didn’t think Sonnen could even come close to backing up all that ridiculous trash talk he spewed in the run-up to their UFC 117 fight on Saturday night.

But while Silva did manage to pull off a fifth-round submission victory, I now believe Sonnen has to be considered the No. 2 middleweight in the world, and I also believe the next middleweight title fight should be Silva-Sonnen 2. No one had ever even come close to beating Silva in the UFC, and Sonnen had victory within his grasp on Saturday night. He deserves another chance.

You know Silva and Sonnen are the top two middleweights in the world. Find out about the rest of the Top 10 below.