The anticipated grudge match between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva has been made official.
Sonnen and Silva, who are serving as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3, will headline a UFC Fight Night event on May 31 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
UFC Brazil officials confirmed the fight date Sunday night following UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Henderson 2
VP do #UFC no Brasil, Grace Tourinho anuncia que Chael Sonnen x Wanderlei Silva vai acontecer dia 31/5 em São Paulo.
— UFC Brasil (@ufc_brasil) March 24, 2014
The bout was originally slated to be the UFC 173 co-main event, however UFC officials decided to move the matchup back one week and have it headline a free event in Brazil.
Sonnen (28-14-1) is coming off a loss to Rashad Evans at UFC 167 in November, while Silva (35-12-1, 1 NC) hasn’t fought since a knockout win over Brian Stann last March in Japan.
In other UFC news
– A featherweight matchup between talented strikers Cub Swanson and Jeremy Stephens is set to headline a UFC Fight Night event June 28 in San Antonio. Swanson (20-5) has won five straight in the UFC, while Stephens (23-9) is unbeaten since dropping to the 145-pound division.
– A welterweight bout between Brazilian Paulo Thiago and Gasan Umalatov is slated to take place at UFC Fight Night: Sonnen vs Silva, which is expected to serve as the finale for TUF Brazil 3.
– German welterweight Peter Sobotta will return to the UFC after a three-year absence, as he’s scheduled to fight unbeaten newcomer Pawel Pawlak at UFC Fight Night 41 in Berlin. Sobotta went 0-3 in his first UFC stint, losing to Paul Taylor, James Wilks and Amir Sadollah all by unanimous decision.