The anticipated UFC 175 grudge match between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva will have to wait, as Silva is no longer scheduled to compete at the event.
Instead, Sonnen will face Vitor Belfort on the July 5 card in Las Vegas.
The opponent switch was first reported by Brazilian outlet Combate and later confirmed by the UFC.
“Due to issues related to Wanderlei Silva’s licensing in the state of Nevada, the UFC was forced to seek a replacement opponent to face Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 on Saturday, July 5 in Las Vegas,” an official UFC statement read. “Former UFC champion Vitor Belfort has accepted the fight with Sonnen, subject to Belfort receiving a license to compete from the Nevada Athletic Commission.”
Belfort (24-10) was originally scheduled to fight Chris Weidman in the UFC 173 main event, but after the Nevada commission changed its testosterone replacement therapy regulations, Belfort, a longtime TRT user, was forced off the card.
The veteran is currently on one of the most impressive streaks of his 17-year MMA career. In his last three fights he has earned head-kick knockouts of Dan Henderson, Luke Rockhold and Michael Bisping. The Brazilian also holds career wins over Wanderlei Silva, Rich Franklin, Anthony Johnson and Randy Couture.
Sonnen (28-14-1) is coming off a loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 167 in November, while Silva (35-12-1, 1 NC) hadn’t fought since a knockout win over Brian Stann in Japan last March.
On Tuesday’s episode of UFC Tonight, Sonnen, a co-host of the program, announced that his fight with Belfort with be contested at 205 pounds yet it will serve as a No. 1 contender’s bout for the middleweight division. Sonnen also said Silva refused to take a drug test last weekend and that’s the reason he wasn’t granted his license from the Nevada commission. The UFC has yet to confirm whether these two bits of information are true, or if it is just conjecture from Sonnen.
For months Sonnen had predicted his bout with Silva would fall through. The two had been scheduled to fight one another on several occasions in the past, but it never came to fruition with Silva either citing injury or the UFC shuffling its lineup.
Sonnen and Silva recently served as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3. The two got into several heated exchanges on the show and even got into a fight on set.
UFC 175 is scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Lyoto Machida and Chris Weidman. The co-main event is a women’s bantamweight title bout between Ronda Rousey and Canadian Alexis Davis.
