Both competitors have confirmed the organization of the match on social media.
The bout will take place in the 98 kg (216 lbs.) weight class, will have professional status and a format of five rounds of two minutes each.
The former middleweights have previously met twice under the banner of the world’s strongest league. In August 2010 at UFC 117 in Oakland, Chel Sonnen dominated Anderson Silva throughout the match and nearly took the middleweight championship belt from the Brazilian, but was caught in a triangle choke in the fourth minute of the fifth round and was forced to signal submission. Two years later, in a rematch at UFC 148 in Las Vegas, “The Spider” scored an unanimous decision victory over “American Gangster”, finishing him by technical knockout in the second round.
Since retiring from the UFC in 2020, Anderson Silva has fought four bouts under boxing rules, winning a split decision over Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. in the first, knocking out Tito Ortiz in the second, with no winner declared in the third match due to regulation, despite the fact that the former UFC champion dominated his compatriot Bruno Machado for eight rounds, and in his last fight the Brazilian lost by unanimous decision to blogger Jake Paul.
Chel Sonnen had his last fight in 2019 under the Bellator banner, losing by second-round technical knockout to former UFC champion Lyoto Machida, and hasn’t competed in combat sports since, and the fight with Silva will be his boxing debut.