Daniel Cormier, current light heavyweight champion of UFC, will fight at UFC 200 after all, but his title will not be on the line. After former champ Jon Jones was pulled from the match, and the event, due to an investigation into possible anti-doping rules violations, Cormier was left without an opponent for the special.
Now, Anderson Silva, a former middleweight champion who defended his title a record ten times in a row, will step in to fight Cormier in a non-title match to fill out the card. Silva has fought in the light heavyweight class three times before, winning all three of those fights decisively, with first-round knockouts. However, the 41 year-old last fought at that weight four years ago, when he defeated Stephan Bonnar in October 2012 (also his last win overall). His prior fights at that class go even further back, to August 2009 and July 2008.
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UFC President Dana White said it’s “and interesting, fun fight” at a press conference late Thursday night. “Anderson Silva is undefeated at 205, and not just undefeated, but devastatingly undefeated. Every time he’s moved up to 205, he’s looked better than he did at 185.”
Silva requested the fight himself, saying at the press conference, “It’s a great challenge fighting at this event. Obviously, I wanted to be fighting in my own weight class for the belt, but I’m here. It’s a great challenge through everything that I’ve done, through wins and defeats and everything. So it’s a great challenge for me.”
Silva, of course, has to undergo medical clearance and weigh-ins today in order to fight, but neither Silva’s camp nor UFC foresee any problems, hence the late addition. UFC 200 hits the relatively new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (which will also be the homebase of LV’s new NHL team next year), Saturday July 9.
The rest of the card also received a shakeup due to the changes. The female bantamweight title fight between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes is now the main event of UFC 200, with Brock Lesnar’s return to the Octagon to battle Mark Hunt relegated back to co-headliner. Originally, when the news about Jones’ latest scandal hit, Lesnar and Hunt was being moved up to the top spot.
