Vitor Belfort is out of the much anticipated title fight with fellow Countryman Anderson Silva due to a shoulder injury suffered in training. With Chael Sonnen now being the number one contender for the shot at the MW Title, can he be ready in time for the proposed date of April 10th? Chael was issued a 30 day suspension by the NSAC due to the laceration on his forehead from an upward elbow from the Nate Marquardt fight last 't weekend. Sonnen has spoke on his training regimen before and after UFC 109 saying that he doesn't just hit the pads or drill wrestling, but he actually fights in camp which is going to be an unlikely scenario, at least until that cut heals. With Nate Marquardt just being dominated for three rounds by Sonnen, his name is not at the top of the list and Dan Henderson is no where for comment now that he is with Strikeforce. Other than Chael, there are no fighters that could step in and be considered challengers for the Middleweight belt. A rematch with Patrick Cote could be set up now that the Canadian is recovered from his injury, but would anyone really want to see that match? Not me personally. Cote is the only person that believes he would have beat the Champion had his knee not blown out in the third round. Yushin Okami has been waiting for his shot at Silva in a bout that should have happened a long time ago, but due to his lack of marketability and recent loss to Sonnen it is unlikely that he will be called on for the job. More than likely Silva will have to dip his toes back into the waters of the Light-Heavyweight division for one fight, or his title fight will need to be rescheduled if Sonnen can't compete by April 10th. If the latter is to happen, at least the Abu-Dhabi card still has BJ Penn defending his title and a match-up of legends in Matt Hughes vs. Renzo Gracie.
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