UFC Releases Official Statement On Wanderlei Silva Situation

By now, we all know what happened to the Wanderlei Silva vs. Chael Sonnen bout.

If you missed it, the short version is simple.

Wanderlei Silva ran from Nevada commission officials when they attempted to obtain a urine sample for drugs. As a result, he has been removed from his scheduled date against Chael Sonnen and in his place comes Vitor Belfort.

The UFC released the following statement:

Due to issues related to Wanderlei Silva’s licensing in the state of Nevada, the UFC was forced to seek a replacement opponent to face Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 on Saturday, July 5 in Las Vegas. Former UFC champion Vitor Belfort has accepted the fight with Sonnen, subject to Belfort receiving a license to compete from the Nevada Athletic Commission.

UFC Ceo Lorenzo Feritta also stated,

“Due to issues related to Wanderlei Silva’s licensing in the state of Nevada, the UFC was forced to seek a replacement opponent to face Chael Sonnen at UFC 175 on Saturday, July 5 in Las Vegas. Former UFC champion Vitor Belfort has accepted the fight with Sonnen, subject to Belfort receiving a license to compete from the Nevada Athletic Commission.”

And on Vitor,

“From our understanding, he’s said he’s off the therapy 100 percent. I know he’s voluntarily done testing every week and every test has come back normal…. He is going through the process of submitting an application to Nevada and, based on the criteria we’ve seen for other fighters [who were on TRT], he’s no different. He should be eligible to be licensed in my opinion.”

(Fertitta quotes via ESPN)