Despite Posturing Over Chael Sonnen Bout, Dana White Says Wand Can't Even Train Until January
The war of words between UFC light heavyweights Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva has been in full swing since Sonnen’s victory over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua at the inaugural UFC on FOX Sports 1 event in Boston earlier this month.
Moments after defeating Shogun – a former training partner of Silva’s – Sonnen took to the post-fight microphone and had a few words for “The Axe Murderer.”
“Wanderlei Silva, 6-feet tall, 205 pounds; boy, until I met you, I didn't know they could stack crap that high,” he yelled into the microphone.
“Wanderlei Silva, three months, you and the bad guy.”
Sonnen then strolled out of the cage and the MMA world was set a blaze with another fiery promo from the “Gangster from West Linn.”
Silva, who apparently wanted the fight as well, was game for the showdown and made it very clear that he wanted the fight.
UFC president Dana White contacted Silva about booking the potential showdown, but according to White, Silva wanted a piece of the PPV cut or he would not fight.
White responded by saying that would not happen, and added that this would likely be the end of the line for the Brazilian fan-favorite, saying, “I guess he’s gonna retire.”
Whoa. Talk about going from one extreme to another.
It now seems as if White has changed his tune on the retirement talk.
At the UFC Fight Night 27: Condit vs. Kampmann 2 post-fight scrum, White said that Silva is still not cleared to fight until January, and simply put, even if White wanted to book Silva in a fight with Sonnen, he couldn’t.
“I know publicly it looked like whatever with Wanderlei,” said White. “I like Wanderlei very much and I respect him as a fighter and as a person. Me and Wanderlei will figure this thing out.
“I'm not mad at him. There's no animosity. But he's not gonna be healthy until January. He can't even start training until January.”
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