Antonio 'Bigfoot' Silva
With former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir moving up to the main event of UFC 146 to face current title holder Junior dos Santos next month at UFC 146, Mir’s former opponent former UFC belt holder Cain Velasquez (9-1), was left without an opponent.
UFC president Dana White announced a new opponent via Twitter (@danawhite) for Velasquez Sunday afternoon naming Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva (16-3) as that fighter.
– Don’t believe any of the BS you read on the internet. Cain is fighting Bigfoot Silva May 26th in Vegas
UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir is scheduled to take place on May 26, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Silva steps up in opponents having been previously been scheduled to face Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson on the Las Vegas card. No news was given as to who Nelson may face next, or even if he would still compete on the card.
‘Bigfoot’ will make his Octagon debut after a loss in the Stikeforce Heavyweight Tournament semifinals to Daniel Cormier last September. Silva had won three straight previous to the knockout defeat, stopping Fedor Emelianenko in the quarterfinals, as well as defeating Mike Kyle and Andrei Arlovski in previous Strikeforce shows.
Velasquez is coming off a title loss to JDS last November at the first UFC on FOX show. Before that he had gone undefeated in nine straight matches, with a TKO win over Brock Lesnar a year before at UFC 121 for the UFC belt. Velasquez has finished eight of his nine opponents by (T)KO.