Anderson Silva Steps Up to Fight Daniel Cormier at UFC 200

The former middleweight champ took the fight on TWO days notice.

Daniel Cormier was bumped from the UFC 200 main event yesterday after Jon Jones’s positive PED test, but he won’t be removed from the fight card completely. Former middleweight champion Anderson Silva will step in to fight Cormier on two days notice. Cormier’s light heavyweight belt will not be on the line in the three round bout. 

 “I think it’s an interesting, fun fight,” UFC president Dana White said 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 has fought three times at 205 pounds, and won all times, each by first round knockout. Don’t expect that to happen Saturday night.

The 41-year-old last fought in February, when he lost a decision to Michael Bisping. A bout scheduled for UFC 198 in May was cancelled when Silva was forced to undergo emergency gall bladder surgery. 

Before that Silva defeated Nick Diaz at UFC 183, a victory that was overturned after its was revealed that he twice tested positive for steroids in the lead up to that fight. With his Diaz win now officially a no contest, Silva hasn’t actually won a fight since he his first round TKO of Stephan Bonnar in October, 2012. 

And now he’s about to enter a fight as an underdog for the first time in his UFC career. Oddsmakers have Cormier listed as a huge favorite and given the late notice and Silva’s admission that he hasn’t been “training that hard or preparing for a fight,” it seems like Cormier is in for an easy win.

We’re guessing that Silva won’t care, as long as he gets paid and this doesn’t happen again. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODeTrNf1u5M

The UFC also announced Thursday that the women’s bantamweight title fight between Miesha Tate and Amanda Nunes has been bumped up to main event. 

“Miesha is the woman who beat the woman who beat the woman. She’s the champ,” White said. “What she accomplished a few fights ago, you can’t disrespect that. She should be the main event. She deserves that.”