Brazil, your event has been saved. Saved by one likely source, and one not so likely.
The UFC announced that their new main event for UFC 153, to be held in Rio de Janeiro on October 13th, will be Ufc middleweight champion and native Brazilian Anderson “The Spider” Silva moving up to light heavyweight to face off against “The American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar.
Two more fights were added to the card today, with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira returning to action to take on Dave Herman in a heavyweight bout, and Fabio Maldonado stepping in for Rampage Jackson to take on Glover Texiera.
Dana White confirmed the news to MMAJunkie.com and even added what could be construed as a veiled shot at current UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones:
Anderson Silva wasn’t scheduled to fight at all. I called him today, and he’s shooting a commercial in Brazil. Anderson Silva steps up, and Stephan Bonnar wants to fight him. The Teixeira vs. Maldonado fight comes together, and then Nogueira was standing right there with Anderson shooting the commercial with him, and he said he wanted to fight, too.
This is old-school UFC. A card is in jeopardy, but guys that are world champions and superstars stepped up and jumped in and saved the card. This is why the fans love this sport and why we went on a 12-year run without canceling an event.
Bonnar is currently riding a three fight winning streak and has been asking for “bigger” fights. On October 13th we’ll find out if he should have been careful what he asked for.
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