Anderson Silva to Defend Title at UFC 112; Vitor Belfort Undergoes Surgery, Expects to Return by End of Year
UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will defend his title on April 10 at UFC 112 in Abu Dhabi, UFC President Dana White told MMA Fighting on Friday, but is still awaiting a new opponent after Vitor Belfort was forced to withdraw from their scheduled matchup on Thursday with a shoulder injury.
Chael Sonnen, who earned the next middleweight title shot with a win over Nate Marquardt at UFC 109, and Demian Maia, who was also victorious at the Saturday event, top the list of potential opponents for Silva, but both suffered cuts in their bouts and may be unable to make the quick turnaround.
Meanwhile, Belfort has already undergone surgery for a lingering shoulder injury and today told Sherdog that he can resume training in four months for a likely return to the Octagon by year’s end:
“I’ve already had the surgery on my left shoulder. Actually Lorenzo (Fertitta) was aware that I was feeling really bad pain in my shoulder for a long time. I’ve already had three injections since I was scheduled to fight Fedor, but lately the pain got really unbearable and my doctor decided to take an (MRI) and it showed chronic injury that was getting worse. My doctor, Michel Simoni, said that if I did not stop and do the surgery immediately, I was running serious risk of my shoulder going out of place. Also I was already losing the power of my left arm. How could I fight (without) my strongest hand?
I’m feeling good, and according to the doctor, in four months I can start returning to training little by little. Now I have a long journey of work with physical therapy every day. I think before the end of the year, I’ll be back in the Octagon. No matter if it’s fighting for the belt or not, I’ll be back 100 percent.”
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Pictured: Anderson Silva
Tags: Anderson Silva, Vitor Belfort
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It will be interesting to see who they end up actually giving the shot to, and when we will find out who that is.
I feel this announcement kinda has to be imminent with the event coming up in April.
1 week ago im sure they would have just tossed marquart in there … now i have no clue….
Well they mas still give it to Marquart, they did that for BJ penn when GSP was injured to fight Hughes. I dont think Marquart sustained any fight suppending damage with the Sonnen fight and as we could see on Sonnens forehead that i dont think the cut will be fully healed in time for the fight. And they need to announce it soon so the guy can start training.
I think after Wanderlai knocks out Bisping in the 1st round next week he’ll be ready to fight Anderson by May 29th!!!
May 29th? Anderson will be defending his title on the 10th of April so you want him on the very next UFC PPV v Wanderlei..?
They just posted that he will defend his title on april 10. i highly doubt he will defend hid belt again a month after..
Wanderlei said this to MMAWeekly:
wat happened wanderlei. y the sudden change of heart. these 2 did have a lil rivalry goin right? wit anderson mad that wandy dropped to 185 and then there was the whole training franklin to beat wandy thing. so whered it go?
They talked things over and decided to “kiss and makeup”.
if anderson was mad at me id kiss and make up too betta then waking up to him standing ova u rockin out on his air guitar wit ur nose rich franklin’d to the side of ur face
I love Wanderlei hes by far my favorite fighter, but this was a good move on his part.
Ok so with Vitor Belfort out of the picture now in the middleweight division you have Chael Sonnen and Demian Maia who just came off a win. I don’t think the athletic commission would clear them to fight in April and theres really no one else in the division right now that is on his level or is free to fight. I know Dana still wants him to defend his title at this event I know Yoshihiro Akiyama is free maybe he might get the call since hes supposed to fight the winner of Silva/Bisping. I would still love to see him fight Patrick Cote but hes probably going to fight in Montreal at UFC113. If you look at the Lightweight division my only pick would be right off the bat Antonio “Lil Nog” Nogueira but hes lined up to fight Forrest Griffin at UFC114 why I don’t know because it will just be a sparring match. I think they should scrap that match and have Forrest fight either Luiz Cane or Thiago Silva since everyone else is pretty much booked but im not Joe Silva But this probably won’t happen since Anderson Silva and Lil Nog train together at Black House.
There is no Athletic Commision in Abu Dhabi, but I get what you are saying
No there is no athletic commission in Abu Dhabi, but the UFC tends to follow the NSAC rules when in other countries (see the UK and Germany). That said, Sonnen’s suspension is up March 24.
Bump him from the Fight Night match-up and give the fight to Yushin Okami. He has one of the few victories over Anderson Silva. That could sell the fight by itself.
Okami didn’t exactly “beat” Andersion Silva but some people want to see that fight, I have no desire to personally………..
Okami’s last fight was a loss to Chael Sonnen. There would be riots if he got a title shot coming off a loss.
how about palhares? do him and anderson train together? his only loss in the ufc is a decision to dan henderson. i just think they should give sonnen the shot in may, he thinks he can beat anderson…lets see it haha
Agreed. Okami didn’t beat him – in fact Silva knocked him out very impressively – but illegally.
Okami makes sense because he’s 7-2 in the UFC. His only two losses have come at the hands of Rich Franklin and Chael Sonnen.
Personally, I don’t think he has a chance of winning but at this point, he should be a logical candidate.
That loss to Sonnen was Okami’s last fight.
I say they give it to Nate. Dana can come out, say he appologizes to Nate for the whole #1 contender thingy and there you go. He’s got to fight someone, Sonnen can fight the winner. By then, Vitor wil be ready.
It does make you wish Hendo was still around.
And that way we can see a rematch between Nate and Sonnen and see what would happen. I would have loved if Nate and Sonnen went another two rounds. I wonder if the nate could have finished it because he did end strong in round 3
that is if Nate were to beat Silva
^^^Agreed! It makes you wish Jake Shields would hurry up and get to the UFC, too.
Hey man could you click on the reply to comment button if you agree w/ the above comment, gets hard to keep up with your comments if you just use the arrow points.
AKIYAMA!!!!!!!!!!!!
lol….i just wrote sexyama and then scrolled up and saw what u wrote haha
Da Spyder vs The Spider, I am certainly joking about this but I would like to see that fight graphic and the promo just to hear the same nickname. I really enjoy Kendall’s fights but this wouldn’t even be close.
I don’t think you need to fool around at Middleweight. It makes no sense to put a #1 contender in there not 100% healthy and on short notice. And if you don’t have the #1 contender fight, then it screws up the order of things. This should be a LHW fight where no title is in the way and if a Lose goes on the record it really doesn’t matter. I personally would like to see Jon Jones or Randy Couture fight.
here is the fight that Hendo wanted.. and he for sure would be a shoe-in. ill bet that he is kicking himself in the @ss to a certain extent. i guess that he will have to settle for sheilds.
and just a thought, does anyone think that dana would be willing to make something happen between them? i mean, obviously given Hendo would agree to fight Anderson, and given Dana’s policies on co-promotion, exclusive fighter contracts, etc. Coker seems like a reasonable guy (not that i know him personally) , so it doesnt seem so far fetched that Dana and Scott would work out a deal where they square off. there are millions to be made off a fight like that on all parts. i know that it sounds stupid, but then again it may be crazy enough to work. but then what would happen if Hendo were to win???
bah! a boy sure can dream!
That will ever happen. I don’t think Dana could ever justify a lesser promotion bailing him out. Right now, Hendo is dead to Dana. (as a potential fighter)
this is a difficult one if maia or sonnen cant make the turn around how about going out on a limb and giving the shot t aron simpson he is 3-0 in the ufc and i cant think of anybody else in the division without a recent loss.
Simpson is not ready, that’s way down the list of potential opponents.
Should have been hendo or nate to begin with
if it stays a title fight they should give it to nate and then put sonnen vs vitor and they two winners can fight at the end of the year.. and if it does go to LHW i would like to see thiago, randy, jones, cain, but i would love to see him go against a good wrestler i know you guys will laugh but if he wins his next fight maybe bader!!!!
You do realize that Bader is at 205, right? And that it can’t be for the middleweight title, right?
He did say “if it does go to LHW”. Bader has to get past Jardine anyways… I’m definitely laughing.
ya i do i ment that if he had to go to 205
i know it wont happen…but lets throw sexyama in the mix
Three names immediately come to mind:
Chael Sonnen
Demian Maia
Nate Marquardt
Sonnen has a nasty cut
Maia got pretty messed up
Marquardt just lost to Sonnen
I could understand if they give the fight to Nate considering the circumstances. I think that would be the best choice right now. Then have Sonnen fight the winner and Maia fight the loser.
I expected him to move up and fight someone at 205 instead, but thats a no go. I doubt any LHWs will want to cut down to 185 and fight Anderson so soon.
I say give it to Marquardt
This is a mess right now
I think the fact that this is such a problem indicates that Dana seriously needs to go out and find some 185ers to re-stock the division that Silva has cleared out.
I’m also curious as to how far down the 185 roster Dana will go to find a challanger, if he’s determined to have Silva defend the title at 112, instead of throwing him a fight at 205, which would have made more sense.
How in the world is it going to look having a guy like Okami fighting for the title?
And do we know for sure that Patrick Cote has zero chance of being ready by 112?
“Dana seriously needs to go out and find some 185ers to re-stock the division that Silva has cleared out.”
In works.. TUF 11.
Seeing as how TUF 10 dropped like a steaming pile on a frozen pond, I’ll reserve judgement on TUF 11 until I see the fighters signed for the show…
Why are they making him defend the title now anyway with no obvious contender????? Why the insistense on him defending???
I want him to Defend the belt but against the rightful # 1 contender.. This is how mistakes are made.. Trying to force the issue..
If you put Chael in to soon he may get reallllyyyyy hurt bad!!
If you put in Nate he could end up losing twice in a row not being totally ready OR Every person who loses now should get a title shot….Why not give tito a title shot he just lost his last fight if shogun injuries his self.
Point is there is no one I would put out there for Anderson to fight as a title contender, If you must have Anderson on this card have him fight at 205…. OR take him off the card totaly and replace him with some one else.
Pull bisping to fight anderson and have sexyama fight wandy.. Bisping got KO’d by dan but that fight could be a big draw still
Well let’s see – Dana told Hendo he had the next title shot. Didn’t happen. Then he told Marquardt he had the next shot, didn’t happen. Then he said the winner of Marquardt/Sonnen had the next shot – heck, why expect a break with tradition? Of course Mousasi just got his realease from M-1. Any way he could make 185?
he still has a contract with strikeforce
rousimar palhares
i think marquardt (if chael cant make it) would be more deserving than bisping but what if marquardt won, than what? a rematch between chael and marquardt. what a mess. well atleast its belfort who has to pull out and not silva. right?
If Chael Sonnen is unable to fight in April (or unwilling due to an abbreviated camp) then I think Demian Maia is the logical solution (assuming he himself can be ready in time).
I don’t beleive in giving a title shot to a guy coming off of a defeat which would eliminate Marquardt and Okami.
I would be interested in seeing Cote get another crack at Anderson since we are scrambling to find a decent fight to watch.
But with Chael cut up, I think Demian Maia ends up being the odd man in, if you want to put it that way.
Personally, I would MUCH rather see Anderson fight someone other than Maia. I am not really all that interested in Anderson vs. Maia. I would LOVE to see Anderson and Bones Jones throw things at each other. I think an excellent challenge that happens to be a non-title fight is still much more interesting then a title-defense cake walk.
Just because the title is on the line doesnt mean the fight will be more interesting or more entertaining for the fans. I think Dana is choosing poorly by limiting this fight’s options to only 185ers. If Anderson MUST stay on the card and this fight MUST impress, I think Dana has to go outside 185 if Chael can’t pull it together in time.
nicely put jerod, you know alot of people are also throwin sexyamas name out there but with his debut against belcher who imo won the fight i dont think deserves anymore than al turk against lesnar.
As a fan, i would be ‘okay’ to the idea of Anderson vs. Sexyama. It doesn’t come without reservations, but neither does any matchup right now. I would much rather see him fight Jon Jones purely for the entertainment value and I would rather see Anderson and Cote fight rather than Anderson vs. sexyama purely for the unfinished business component. But I would be okay seeing sexyamas get a crack since it’s short notice.
One of the following is going to HAVE to happen. I see no way around it because of the short-notice nature of this beast we are dealing with:
1) Anderson defends his title against a challenger who doesnt deserve a title shot.
2) Anderson fights at 205 for a stiffer challenege becasue there is no clear-cut #1 contender at 185.
3) Anderson is pulled from the card.
I don’t see any other scenario and if Dana is going to use entertainment value as the litmus test, i think you have to send Anderson up to 205 and just market the idea that he is after a bigger challenge …
apparently its going to be anderson silva vs damien maia
Link didn’t work so I took it out.
-Justin
get well soon buddy