Broken Hand Forces Vitor Belfort Out of Fight With Wanderlei Silva

LAS VEGAS -- As if the UFC hasn't had enough obstacles thrown its way this month, word came down on Saturday that another big fight has dropped out.

Vitor Belfort broke his hand in training and had to withdraw from his "TUF: Brazil" coaches fight with Wanderlei Silva. The match was scheduled to be the main event of UFC 147 on June 23 at the Mineirinho Arena in Belo Horizonte.

"I wake up this morning and I find out Vitor Belfort breaks his hand and he has to have [expletive] surgery," White said.

The original plan for the event was to hold the Anderson Silva-Chael Sonnen middleweight title rematch in Brazil, but logistical concerns forced the company to move the bout to UFC 148 on July 7 in Las Vegas. Belfort vs. Silva was chosen as the backup option, but with the former UFC light heavyweight champion undergoing surgery to repair the hand, that's out the window, as well.

White indicated on Saturday that Silva will still headline the June 23 event and that they're working on a new opponent, but he declined to name names.

"I'm working on it," he said. "Wanderlei will fight. I can't say who. I gotta get it done first. When you start talking about [potential replacement fighters], that's when it gets hard to do the deal."

For White, the news was just the latest headache in a month filled with bad news, which ranged from Dominick Cruz's knee injury to Jon Jones' DUI arrest.

"A lot of people were talking smack about the fact we pulled the Silva card out of Brazil and we had to bring it here," he said. "We were going to bring the coaches of TUF: Brazil in and have them fight on the Brazil show instead. So, tickets go on sale for that show, we sold 13,000 tickets for a 17,000 seat arena the day tickets went on sale, then this happens. It never ends for me, every day we get up, bad [expletive] happens."