Despite several reports to the contrary throughout the day on Monday, recent UFC light heavyweight title challenger Chael Sonnen will not be fighting Mauricio Rua at UFC 161 next Saturday.

The rumor mill started churning when, as eDraft reported, it was announced that Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was withdrawing from his co-main event bout with “Shogun” due to a back injury.

Sonnen added fuel to the fire when he tweeted a pretty clear cut callout Rua’s way early yesterday morning.

“@ShogunRua I HEAR BRAZILIAN CHICKEN IS OFF THE MENU. AMERICAN GANGSTER IS STILL AVAILABLE IF YOU WANT TO SEND YOUR WAITRESS OVER.”

Given “The American Gangster’s” propensity to take high-profile fights on short notice, this one seemed to be a done deal.

However, late last night, Brazilian media outlet Tatame reported that Sonnen would not be able to fight on the card due to Visa issues.  Tatame also stated that Sonnen vs. Shogun is likely to headline UFC on FOX Sports 1:1 in August.

One thing for certain is that the former PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Champion has been removed from UFC 161.

Sonnen has lost back-to-back title fights to Anderson Silva and Jon Jones, respectively, but is 7-1 in his past eight non-title bouts and remains a big pay-per-view draw for the UFC.

Rua is 2-2 in his past four fights, knocking out Forrest Griffin and Brandon Vera and losing decisions to light heavyweight contenders Dan Henderson and Alexander Gustafsson.