Earlier this week on FOX Sports 1, Dana White announced that a fight between Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen was being planned for UFC 167, but it appears he may have spoken too soon as Silva has now thrown a spanner in the works.
White now claims that the proposed match-up has stalled after Silva attempted to negotiate a more lucrative deal for the bout.
“[Silva] said he won’t fight him unless he gets PPV [points] so I guess he’s gonna retire,” White informed MMAfighting.com.
That dig about retirement in particular is likely to sting the 37 year-old who’s dismissed talk of hanging up his gloves despite a patchy 4-5 record in the UFC since 2007.
In all honesty it’s surprising that this issue has been aired publicly and that the UFC president appears to be playing hardball as White and Silva have always had a good relationship in the past.
On the other hand it’s also surprising that Silva appears to be reluctant to take this fight. Sonnen has accused him of trying to avoid the match-up for some time now and the fact that ‘The Axe Murderer’ is now making it a money issue doesn’t reflect particularly well on him, especially given that he’s generally someone that fans believe is down to fight anyone at any time..
Perhaps Silva will back down and agree to this grudge match now that he knows that the UFC aren’t going to give in to his demands.
If not it seems that the UFC are well placed to continue on without this fight as UFC 167 is already looking fairly stacked with a trio of welterweight bouts slated for the main card including the GSP Vs Johny Hendricks title fight, Rory MacDonald Vs Robbie Lawler and Josh Koscheck Vs Tyron Woodley.
