March 26, 2012 – Today the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) made it official that middleweight champion and consensus #1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world Anderson Silva will indeed be taking on arch-nemesis Chael Sonnen on his home soil in a much anticipated rematch stemming from their first clash back in August 2010 – a fight which the champion won by triangle choke to complete an improbable comeback after being down for most of the contest. This time around, the title fight will be a part of what the organization expects to be “the biggest fight card in UFC history” at UFC 147 – scheduled for Rio de Janeiro’s Joao Havelange Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on June 23, 2012. With the ability to seat a capacity crowd hovering around the 80,000 mark, this venue could very well play host to the largest MMA crowd ever to watch a UFC event with this one if they can top the record attendance of 55,000 fans currently held by the Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada for UFC 129.
Aside from lives attendance figures, UFC 147 could also be about as pivotal of an international event as the UFC has ever held in its 20-year history based on how many people are anticipated to tune in for the event.
“This will be the biggest sporting event of the year” said UFC President Dana White. “Bigger than the NFL, the NBA, you name it – UFC 147 will be the biggest. The whole world wants to see this fight between Silva and Sonnen. We are broadcast in over 150 countries in 22 languages in half a billion homes. Wherever those fans are, they are going to be watching this fight.”
Aside from Silva vs. Sonnen 2, UFC 147 will also feature the live finale of The Ultimate Fighter Brasil™. This will include what is sure to be another highly-anticipated rematch between two surefire hall-of-famers and MMA icons in TUF Brazil coaches Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva. The two originally met for the first time at the very first UFC Brazil event back in 1998 in a bout where “The Phenom” blasted through his Chute Boxe counterpart in under a minute in his light heavyweight debut. Both fighters would go on to have storied careers with Vitor doing much of his work in the UFC where he eventually became champion and Wanderlei doing much of his own legend-building in Japan’s Pride FC, where he too attained champion status. 14 years later and the two will have gone full circle to put a conclusion to their competitive rivalry once and for all.
The rest of the card has yet to be officially announced but it is presumed a good portion of it will include Brazilian fighters currently competing on this season’s Brazilian season of The Ultimate Fighter – including the both the lightweight and middleweight finals. Stay tuned here to TXMMA.com for more on this card as it draws closer.