The long awaited rematch between Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva continues to draw nearer with the bout being scheduled for UFC 147 this June. There were some snags as plans to hold the event in Sao Paulo, Brazil fell through due to noise ordinances, exacerbated by the need for the event to run well past midnight due to time zone differences, among other issues.
Related: UFC’s Hopes For A Stadium Show In Sao Paulo Appear To Be Dead
At today’s UFC press conference, president Dana White announced that the bout would remain in Brazil but would be held in Rio de Janeiro, the city that is fast becoming the UFC’s Brazilian home base. Here’s the tweet from the UFC’s Twitter account:
80,000 fans is no joke, it is going to be quite the atmosphere as the hated Sonnen enters Brazil in an attempt to wrest the title from the firm grasp of pound-for-pound king Silva.
In the first bout, Sonnen dominated the fight only losing when caught in a triangle choke in the waning minutes of the UFC 117 bout. Sonnen would go on to test positive for elevated testosterone after the fight and would be suspended. That, combined with a rib injury for Silva coming into the evening, has many thinking the rematch will go quite diferently.