Another back injury has forced Thiago Silva to pull out of his UFC 149 fight against Mauricio Rua, MMA Fighting has confirmed with Silva’s manager Dan Lambert.
MMA Junkie first reported the news Friday afternoon.
According to Lambert, he doesn’t believe Silva will need surgery to fix the lingering back issue that has plagued Silva’s career over the last couple of years. Silva’s bad back kept him out of action for an entire year in 2010 and it also bothered him enough going into his UFC 125 fight against Brandon Vera to force him to take prohibitive prescription steroids, which got him suspended for another year by the Nevada State Athletic Commission. The Brazilian finally returned to action in April, only to lose a unanimous decision to Alexander Gustafsson in Sweden.
“Hopefully not long,” Lambert said in response to how long Silva will be sidelined for, “but no way he could prepare for Shogun.”
According to MMA Junkie, UFC president Dana White wants to replace Silva with Glover Teixeira, who defeated Kyle Kingsbury in 1:53 last week at UFC 146.
When contacted by MMAFighting.com, Teixeira’s trainer John Hackleman would only say that “there is an interest on both sides.”
And just in case you were wondering, Alexander Gustafsson’s trainer Eric Del Fierro told MMAFighting.com that the UFC hasn’t contacted his fighter yet about meeting Rua in a little less than two months.
UFC 149, headlined by Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch for the UFC featherweight title, takes place July 21 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.