After taking part in a multi-million dollar ad campaign for
Brazilian TV that featured Jean Claude Van Damme and five other
Brazilian martial arts legends, Anderson
Silva’s retirement fight will come against an old rival.
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Silva will square off against former
Ultimate Fighting Championship foil Chael Sonnen
in a bout that will be contested under boxing rules. Sherdog
confirmed the pairing on Wednesday following an initial report from
TATAME
magazine. While specifics regarding the bout are unknown, the
event will be entitled Spaten Fight Night.
Word of the fight, which is part of the Spaten Beer Marketing
Campaign, began to spread when Silva posted “Spider Grande Finale
June 15” on his Instagram stories. According to a source close to
the situation, the fight will take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. It
will be a closed event with only 600 VIP guests allowed to attend.
Other fights on the card are expected to be announced in the coming
days.
Silva and Sonnen initially squared off at UFC 117, when Sonnen was
minutes away from pulling a massive upset before “The Spider” won
via submission at the 3:10 mark of Round 5. That bout will be
enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame “Fight Wing” this summer. Silva
was more decisive in the rematch, winning via second-round TKO at
UFC 148.
Spaten is one of the 30 beers produced in Brazil by Anheuser Busch
InBev, the largest brewer in the world. It´s the first time that a
large beer company in Brazil has associated its name with MMA and
other martial arts. The name of the campaign is “Not all strength
is brute.” The advertisement was filmed in Czech Republic and in
addition to Van Damme, included Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira, world Brazilian jiu-jitsu champion Kyra Gracie,
Olympic judoka Rafaela Silva, boxing champion Bia Ferreira and
Olympic judo bronze medalist Flavio Canto.
Editor’s note: This item was updated at approximately 8:28 p.m.
ET to include additional information regarding Silva’s
opponent.