Wanderlei Silva responds to Chael Sonnen's challenge – but too late?

Chael Sonnen wanted a fight with Wanderlei Silva. And maybe he has one – or maybe Silva responded too late.

Silva responded to Sonnen’s recent 24-hour challenge on Tuesday’s edition of “UFC Tonight” on FUEL TV. But Sonnen, the show’s co-host, had a quick rebuttal – and implied that Silva’s response may have been moot.

This past week, Sonnen (27-13-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC) took to his Twitter account to issue a challenge to Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC).

“Wand- you have 24 hours to accept,” Sonnen tweeted a week ago. “If you do, I will donate 10% of my purse to help schools in your hometown of Curitiba .. I mean, VEGAS.”

Sonnen this past month challenge Jon Jones for his light heavyweight title, moving up from middleweight. But he lost by first-round TKO at UFC 159 in Newark, N.J., and never really gave much of a threat in the fight.

Following that fight, Sonnen said he would stick around at light heavyweight rather than retire – and mentioned Silva as someone he’d like to fight. The Twitter challenge followed.

On Tuesday, Silva responded to Sonnen, well outside of Sonnen’s 24-hour deadline.

“Jon Jones and Anderson (Silva) have been too nice to Chael,” Silva told “UFC Tonight” correspondent Ariel Helwani. “I want to suck his blood. I want to smell it. Not just fight. Not just fight. I want to hurt him. Chael is a joke, man. He’s going to be second forever. He’s never going to be first.”

Sonnen, naturally, responded as only Sonnen can.

“I think the real breaking news there is that Wanderlei Silva put together a coherent sentence that somebody understood,” Sonnen said. “But I can assure you, Wanderlei, I will not be signing a contract for you to suck on any part of me. I suggest you go to a bath and find yourself.”

Rumors have circulated online that Sonnen and Silva may be targeted for the headlining spot on the UFC’s debut on FOX Sports 1, which takes place Aug. 17 in Boston. The UFC has made no announcements for the main event of that card.

For the latest on UFC on FOX Sports 1 1, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.