UFC
Dana White confirms Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II may be moved from UFC 147 in Brazil, answers to come Tuesday
Apr 22, 2012 - 6:50:20 PM Dana White confirms Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II may be moved from UFC 147 in Brazil, answers to come Tuesday

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

It's looking more and more likely that Brazil is going to lose the Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen. It was reported last week by Brazilian media that the UFC was expected to announce this coming Tuesday that the title fight was being moved after issues arose in Rio de Janeiro for the planned June 23 date, and White confirmed that changes could be forthcoming in comments made after UFC 145 on Saturday night.

"Yeah, there's stuff going on down there in Brazil, and I'm working on it," White said after the event (transcribed by MMAJunkie.com). "We're working on it still at this minute."

"We had the whole arena mapped out and ready to go. We were pumped and ready for that... They came to us, and the mayor was trying to fight for us and trying to keep it. The whole thing just fell apart."

A UN conference in Rio the week of the event is the big issue, because there is a lack of hotel space for the type of stadium event the UFC was hoping to pull off. Additionally, White said this is too big of a fight to simply move to a random arena.

"I said it before and I'll say it again, that's not only the biggest fight in the UFC, I think it's one of the biggest sporting events of the year," White said. "That fight is going to be done the right way. We're not going to half-ass that thing and say, 'Oh, let's go over to this arena over here.' It's going to be a big fight."

The fight hasn't officially been pulled out of Brazil, though the prevailing thought is that it will be moved to the July 7 UFC 148 card in Las Vegas. White said he understands the frustration that would cause with the Brazilian fanbase, but at the same time the move may be a necessity.

"If we can't do it in Brazil and people are upset, I get it," White said. "I'm upset, too. But that's the way it's happening. It's working out that way that we might not be able to do that fight there. It's not my fault."

"I want to do a soccer stadium and have a big blowout, but it is what it is. It's not like we're sitting here going, 'You know what? [Expletive] it. We changed our mind. We don't want to do Brazil in a soccer stadium. We're going to move this fight somewhere else.' This is what happened. This is unfortunate the way things happen sometimes."

White is on his way to Brazil right now, along with Sonnen, for a press conference on Tuesday, at which time the ultimate fate of the fight will be revealed.

Penick's Analysis: The UFC will be moving the event to a different city in Brazil, and will likely headline the card with the Wanderlei Silva-Vitor Belfort rematch without Silva-Sonnen II. It's really unfortunate for the fans in Brazil, and for Silva, but the UFC can make a lot more money with that fight in Las Vegas than at a smaller arena in Brazil. There is one wrinkle to the situation that White may have let slip in a fan chat on Friday before UFC 145, as he suggested Jose Aldo could be moved from the UFC 149 card in Calgary. If he defends his Featherweight Title in Brazil for a second straight time, that could be a big save to the event, as it would still give the Brazilian fans a title fight. Tuesday's going to be a rather big news day, as we'll get the answers to this situation, as well as that of Alistair Overeem and the NSAC.

[Chael Sonnen art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]