Wanderlei Silva faces Chael Sonnen in the main fight of Bellator 180, in June

Wand (right) faces Sonnen (left) in June. (Photo: UFC)

The rivalry between Wanderlei Silva e Chael Sonnen is close to being resolved inside the Octagon. The two fighters will face each other in the main fight of Bellator 180, in a fight valid for the light heavyweight category (up to 93kg), scheduled for June 24th, in New York, at the legendary Madison Square Garden. The information was published first hand by “AP”.

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This is the fourth time that the confrontation between Wanderlei and Sonnen has been scheduled. Previously, the fight had been scheduled twice in May 2014 (the 24th and 31st), but postponed on both dates. It was later rescheduled for UFC 175, in July of the same year, but the Brazilian refused to take anti-doping tests at the time and got into a legal fight with Ultimate, until he was released by the company in 2016.

Wand has not performed since March 2013, when he knocked out Brian Stann at UFC Saitama. He had his return scheduled for December last year, against Mirko Cro Cop at Rizin, but an injury prevented him from fighting. At 40 years old, the former Pride champion has 35 wins, 12 losses, one draw and one no contest. Professional since 1996, Wanderlei Silva has already defeated names like Kazushi Sakuraba, Quinton Rampage Jackson, Ricardo arona e Michael Bisping.

Sonnen, 39 years old, has already fought for the franchise: he was submitted by Tito Ortiz at Bellator at 170, in January of this year. At 39 years old, the North American loudmouth gained fame after leading a fierce rivalry with Anderson Silva, a fact that gave him the opportunity to fight for the UFC middleweight belt twice against the Brazilian, but he ended up defeated both times. In total, Chael has 28 wins, 15 losses and one draw on his record.

Scott Coker, president of Bellator, also announced that this will be the second event in the organization's history to have pay per view packages sold in the United States. The first time he used the service was at Bellator 120, in 2014, with the duel between Rampage jackson and King mo Lawal in the main attraction.

“We always said that when we came to New York, we would bring the biggest and best fight card we've ever had in the history of this company. Our squad is robust enough and we feel it is time to get into the pay per views business, so here we go”, concluded the director.

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