Dana White: Wanderlei Silva Won’t Fight Sonnen Unless He Gets PPV Cut

The beef between Wandy and Sonnen goes back a while now, so far that I’m wondering when the two will finally square off. The answer to that question is still unknown.

Sonnen is fresh off a submission win over Silva’s friend, Shogun Rua, a bout that was followed by Sonnen calling out The Axe Murderer once again. Sonnen’s call outs have always seemed to fall on deaf ears in the Silva camp, but I don’t think it is down to lack of cajones.

UFC President Dana White says, via MMAFighting.com, that it is a pay dispute that is putting a hold on the long awaited grudge match.

“[Silva] said he won’t fight him unless he gets PPV [points] so I guess he’s gonna retire,”

Not great news for fans of grudge matches, but unless I’m wrong, White is saying that he will not let Silva take a cut of the PPV? Seems a bit harsh, especially considering Silva is a huge fan favorite and one half of this year’s front-runner for FOTY.

Silva is one of my all time top five fighters, and I just hate to see him so obviously disrespected by Sonnen. PPV or not, Silva should step in to the cage against Sonnen. The debate on fighter pay has been a long and arduous one, one that is not likely to end any time soon.

With all this in mind, does Chael Sonnen see a cut of the PPV points at all? If he does, I’d say that Silva’s request is a perfectly reasonable one, and one that should not see a highly anticipated grudge match scrapped.

That being said, Silva is not the fighter he used to be, and likely wouldn’t be able to offer much more resistance than Shogun did. I’d hate to see Sonnen destroy two of my favorite Pride FC fighters, but then again, Sonnen is an amateur in striking compared to Silva.

You know what Dana? Make this fight happen. It’s time for this feud to come to fruition.