Chael Sonnen has gone out of his way to pick a fight with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva; while he’s definitely succeeded in making The Spider angry, he’s been unable to get him to commit to a fight. More than that, his over the top disrespect for the Brazilian fighter has prompted him to scoff at the idea of a rematch, asserting his belief that Sonnen is undeserving as a contender.

Though Silva and his camp have reacted coolly to the idea of another go-round with Sonnen, it looks like the loudmouthed Oregonian will still be the next man to challenge for Silva’s title. UFC president Dana White recently appeared on The Jim Rome Show and revealed that, though it isn’t yet finalized, Sonnen and Silva is all but a done deal.

“It’s the fight that everybody wants to see,” White said of Silva vs. Sonnen 2. “People want to see Chael vs. Anderson. Anderson is in this position where he feels like this guy is so disrespectful he doesn’t want to give him a shot, but Anderson will end up fighting Chael Sonnen.”

Following UFC 137, Nick Diaz made it clear that he didn’t want to have to play the bad guy to get big fights, but that also didn’t mean he wouldn’t.

Diaz called UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 137 and this week he explained why he felt he had to do that:

“I had to come out and do what I had to do and fight, and come out all dramatic and act up, and next thing you know, I got a fight, so I’m sure he can’t blame me for that. That fight is important anyway because that’s the fight that people want to see because I beat all of these important people. I have three Strikeforce belts. If I was him, I would be asking to fight me. If he would have automatically asked for it, then we wouldn’t be in this situation he’s in where he’s not saying nothing. He should have said, ‘This is who I want to fight.’ It’s not about being a challenger; it’s about who is champion at the weight. I’m holding three titles, you know? And I got that DREAM champion too, so you can make that four. It’s just as important as anything else and I know I would want to fight another champion before I would want to fight a high contender. Even if I know that high contender is better than the champion, I would still want to fight the champion because he’s considered the best guy. That’s the route I would have took.”

In a recent interview, Dana White commented on what he would do if one of his main event fighters were forced to pull out of this weekend’s UFC on Fox debut…

“I’ll die. I will die if something happens to one of these guys. Don’t even ask me that. You and me are fighting now because of that. Oh yeah, I’m a mess over this thing. It is what it is. This is a full contact sport and that’s how they train and you roll with the punches, pun intended. It happens. If you look at our history, when it happens, we fix it. We figure it out and we find a way. That’s the business we’re in and that’s what we do. It’s Wednesday, I’m feeling good that nothing can happen between now and Saturday.”

Stephan Bonnar​ (13-7 MMA, 7-6 UFC) recently commented about fighting hurt, slowing down, and his upcoming match with Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 139. Check out the highlights of what he had to say:

On fighting hurt: “If I only had fighting, and my body never got hurt, then every three or four months I would fight. Not knowing when to back off … and then getting hurt. I’ve just got to be smarter about that. I’ve just got to be smarter about that.”

On Kyle Kingsbury: “Man, he’s got a good chin (Against Maldonado), he took a lot of hard punches and fought hard, so I’m looking forward to it. He’s got a couple of ‘Fight of the Night’ bonuses, so I’ll be chasing the bonus. That’s no secret. I just think technically I’ve got a little more tricks, and I think I got a better submission game.”

UFC 139 goes down on November 19 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, California.

Cain Velasquez recently spoke about his title defense on Saturday night vs. Junior Dos Santos, here are the highlights…

On His Focus: “It feels good, but to me, the only thing that is in my head is the fight – not the stuff surrounding it, just what I have to do out there on that night.”

On the Fox Debut: “I think this is a big step up for the sport in general, especially that night, for the UFC to be on free TV on FOX,” the 29-year-old said. “It’s a big deal. It’s a big opportunity for me. I’m happy to be part of that.”

On Junior Dos Santos: “I think so, with him, the type of caliber fighters he’s fought, he’s a tough guy; he’s definitely the real deal,” the former two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler said. “It’s going to be a tough fight that night. You’re definitely going to see two of the best out there.”

On What He Expects: “I expect the same things as the last time, the crowd behind me – definitely feeling that energy when I’m out there,” Velasquez said. “I’m not going to disappoint. “I’m going to be out there and make the same show as I did last time – victorious.”

Although Georges St. Pierre is sidelined with an injury, Dias called out St. Pierre questionning if he’s truly injured. “I think he’s scared to fight everybody right now. Where you at Georges?” Dias said. Dias’ words worked — St. Pierre made the request to Dana White to face Dias in his next fight.

“I’ve known GSP since 2004, he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.” UFC President Dana White said at the post fight press conference. “GSP flipped out tonight when Nick was in the ring. Nick needs motivation, he’s got it. He’s gonna fight GSP.”

The UFC is hoping the fight can take place on Superbowl weekend in February.

“I had the option to fight for the title (as my first UFC bout), but then I had to wait,” Overeem told USA Today. “I love to fight. I love to be active.”

Overeem opened as a narrow betting favorite over the former UFC champ Lesnar at BetonFighting.com with original odds set at -135 for Overeem and +105 for Lesnar, but have since moved closer.

Lesnar (5-2) last fought at UFC 121 in October losing the heavyweight title to Cain Velasquez, but has since been recovering from a second stint with the digestive disorder diverticulitis. The illness first sidelined him for nearly a year after defeating Frank Mir at UFC 100. He returned to successfully defend his title against Shane Carwin at UFC 116 and went on to coach against Junior Dos Santos in the most recent season of The Ultimate Fighter, but was unable to participate in the culminating fight against Dos Santos in June at UFC 131.

Overeem (35-11-1) won the Strikeforce heavyweight title in November 2007 against Paul Buentello but only defended the belt once, against Brett Rogers, before participating in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, where he won a rematch with Fabricio Werdum in June before being released from the final fight on his contract when he was unable to fight in its semifinals later this month.

By signing with the UFC, Overeem will fight exclusively in the Octagon after having been allowed to fight in other organizations under Strikeforce, notably including kickboxing in K-1.

The Lesnar-Overeem winner will be the top contender to challenge the winner of November’s UFC on Fox main event between the heavyweight champion Velasquez and challenger dos Santos.

The UFC’s traditional New Year’s event will be held on Friday to avoid New Year’s Eve the following night.

“We wanted to deliver to Fox. We wanted to deliver to fans. We wanted to kick off with a bang,” White said. “We’re going with the most prestigious championship in all of sports – the heavyweight title.”

Velasquez vs. Dos Santos was expected to headline UFC 139 on Nov. 19 in San Jose, which will still take place as scheduled but with a new main event that is already in the works, according to White.

The one-hour special, which was expected to include two live fights, will only feature Velasquez vs. Dos Santos, with replays from the preliminary card filling the timeslot if the main event doesn’t go a full five-rounds. The complete preliminary card will also be available to watch, but it has not yet been decided if it will be on Facebook.com/UFC or another platform.

Velasquez (9-0) has been sidelined by a shoulder injury since he claimed the title and remained unbeaten with a first-round TKO of Brock Lesnar last October, while dos Santos (13-1) most-recently topped Shane Carwin, who replaced an injured Lesnar at June’s UFC 131, for his seventh-straight UFC win.

Tickets for UFC on Fox 1 go on sale Sept. 16 through Ticketmaster and the Honda Center box office in Anaheim. The only other matchup booked so far for the UFC on Fox fight card is featherweights Dustin Poirier vs. Pablo Garza.

“That’s ridiculous. That’s so far from the truth, it’s not even funny,” White said. “He’s been working on a farm in Canada all summer. He’s back to 100 percent and he’s getting back to training in the next couple of weeks.”

Lesnar is recovering from surgery that saw 12 inches of his colon removed to relieve symptoms from a digestive disorder that has affected him since 2009.

Lesnar (5-2) hasn’t fought since losing the title to Cain Velasquez last October after the symptoms forced him out of a June fight with Junior dos Santos.