UFC 147 is an upcoming mixed martial arts event to be held by Ultimate Fighting Championship. The event will take place on June 23, 2012 at the Mineirinho in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.[1]
The UFC Middleweight Championship bout between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen will take place at the event according to Dana White. The two fighters last faced each other at UFC 117. Sonnen had won the first four rounds on the score cards of this five round championship fight.[ Silva came away with the victory after submitting Sonnen with a triangle choke at 3:10 of the fifth round.
The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil coaches Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva have been announced to fight this event. The pair fought each other once before, about fourteen years ago at UFC Brazil. Belfort defeated Silva via quick first round technical knockout just forty four seconds into the fight.
The finals in the featherweight and middleweight tournaments of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil is expected to be held as well. A fight between Fabricio Werdum and Mike Russow has been reported for this card. Werdum asked the UFC for him to be able to compete in his home country following his decision victory over Roy Nelson at UFC 143. Russow's last fight against John-Olav Einemo at UFC on Fox 2 ended with a decision victory extending his win streak to eleven.
Announced by UFC's Brazilian Twitter account, Milton Vieira will face Felipe Arantes. Vieira, who some claim invented the anaconda choke, will fight in his UFC debut. This will be his first fight in almost a year after defeating Sterling Ford at Strikeforce Challengers: Gurgel vs. Duarte. Arantes will be participating in his third UFC fight, his most recent being a decision victory over Antonio Carvalho at UFC 142.
The possibility of changing the date or location of UFC 147 has been suggested. The change is due to a conflict with the UN Conference, Rio+20, which will be occurring during the same time frame as the UFC event. At the post-fight press conference for UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva UFC President Dana White said that the situation is being worked on and a final decision has not been reached.
On April 20, according to a published report from Sherdog.com, the event is expected to still take place on June 23, 2012, however the location and venue has changed. The event is now expected to take place at Estádio Jornalista Felipe Drumond in Belo Horizonte. While the expected rematch between Anderson Silva and Chael Sonnen would be moved to UFC 148 on July 7, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada and the expected co-feature of the Brazilian event, a rematch between Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva would headline the event.
