Wanderlei Silva Out Until At Least January 2014 Due To Injury

Former PRIDE champion and UFC light heavyweight Wanderlei Silva will be out until at least January 2014 due to injury.

Silva last fought in March against Brian Stann at UFC on Fuel TV: Silva vs. Stann. The 37-year-old Brazilian won the fight, his return to light heavyweight, by KO at 4:08 in the second round.

Since then, or perhaps during that fight, Silva suffered an injury that would keep him out of the Octagon for the rest of the year.

“He’s not gonna be healthy until January,” UFC president Dana White said Wednesday. “He can’t even start training until January.”

The nature of Silva’s injury is currently unknown, but it will certainly put his plans to fight Chael Sonnen on hold for the time being. The two have been trading barbs for a while, with Sonnen calling out Silva and Silva responding in a nearly five minute YouTube video.

Last Wednesday, Sonnen asked White to put him and Silva together for the co-main event for Georges St-Pierre vs. Johny Hendricks at UFC 167 in November.

“He said last week publicly that he would bet $100,000 on Shogun against me, I came out publicly and accepted that bet. He has yet to pay up,” Sonnen said. “I am asking that $50,000 go to the Hired Heroes Foundation headed by Brian Stann, and the other $50,000 go to the bombing victims of Boston.”

White said he thought Silva was going to be out until the beginning of the year, but if he was healthy, White would make the fight the co-main event.

Silva responded to Sonnen in a YouTube video, calling him a coward and saying he just gave up against Jon Jones and Anderson Silva.

“Now you’ve messed with the wrong guy, and I wil beat you up,” he said. Wanderlei Silva also said Chael Sonnen is afraid of him, and that he won his fight against Shogun by luck.

“I will go into this fight not only to fight, but to hurt you,” he promised.

[Photo credit: Dankos Unlmtd / Flickr]