A middleweight bout between UFC fighters Briann Stann (10-3) and Wanderlei Silva (33-10-1, 1NC) was made official on Thursday after the bout was announced on the latest episode of the UFC Ultimate Insider episode 25 at UFC.com.
News of the pairing surfaced in mid-January after Stann asked to face “The Axe Murderer” following his solid victory over Chris Leben at UFC 125.
Stann has won two straight and is 4-1 in his last five fights. His last fight against Leben took place on Jan. 1st as the co-main event of UFC 125 in Las Vegas. Stann earned a first round TKO victory over the “Crippler.” Before that the former Marine made his middleweight debut at UFC Live: Jones vs. Matyushenko last August submitting Mike Massenzio in the third round of their bout. The loss, his last fight at 205 lb was to Phil Davis at UFC 109 by unanimous decision.
Silva, who also dropped to 185 lbs in his last fight, came back from back-to-back losses by earning a unanimous decision victory over Michael Bisping at UFC 110. It was a fight that looked to be going Bisping’s way until Silva exploded in the final 10 seconds of the fight to earn the nod from the judges. The two losses were to Rich Franklin by unanimous decision at UFC 99, and to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson by KO at UFC 92. Silva is 2-2 in his last four UFC bouts.