Sonnen-Stann winner NOT guaranteed title shot vs Silva
The wiinner of Saturday’s Sonnen vs Stann fight was widely expected to get a title shot vs. Anderson Silva, but…
The wiinner of Saturday’s Sonnen vs Stann fight was widely expected to get a title shot vs. Anderson Silva, but Dan Henderson could move in instead.
While a Sonnen rematch with Silva would draw huge numbers, White was emphatic that Stann too is deserving of a title shot, should be win.
“How could you feel that if Sonnen wins, he deserves a shot at the title, but if not Stann doesn’t?” White asked. “Stann’s been on a tear. He beat some good guys and looked good doing it – Leben, Santiago and now Chael? That would be tough to deny him.”
However, Dan Henderson has said the only way he’s willing to move back down to the middleweight division is for a rematch with Silva, which seemed fine with Dana too, should Hendo win his November fight.
“It would be tough to say that if Henderson beats ‘Shogun’ that Henderson doesn’t deserve the shot,” White said. “Should Dan win, he’s definitely one of the guys that could go take that fight.”
The bottom line?
“I’m not even thinking about [Silva’s next opponent] yet,” White said. “We’ll figure it out after.”
Hanging over all this is the 37 year old Silva’s health.
“It’s not that [Silva] has some serious injury,” White said. “He has bursitis in his shoulder. The doctor told him he needs to rest it for eight weeks or whatever it was. He’s doing physical therapy, so it’s not like he has some injury that needs surgery or anything like that.
“As amazing as this guy is, we forget that he’s 37 years old – 37. He’s been involved in martial arts his whole life. Bursitis makes sense.”