Two light heavyweights are set to meet inside the Octagon at UFC Fight Night 29 on Oct. 9 in Brazil.
Thiago Silva told MMAFighting.com on Thursday that he accepted an offer from the UFC to take on Matt Hamill in Barueri, Sao Paulo, pending only the signing of the contract to make it official.
“I didn’t get the contract yet, but it looks like yes, I’m fighting (Hamill) in Brazil,” Silva said. “They offered me that fight and I accepted it, so I’m just waiting for the contract.”
Silva was last seen inside the cage last June, when he won the “Knockout of the Night” bonus for his devastating win over former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Rafael Cavalcante. That win bounced Silva back up on the rankings after his two last victories were overturned after he failed post-fight drug tests.
Hamill is 10-4 in the UFC and has wins over the likes of Tito Ortiz and Mark Muñoz, but he wasn’t the opponent Silva had in mind for his next fight.
“He wasn’t one of the guys I wanted to fight,” Silva said. “I was expecting for a top 10 opponent, but they all are scheduled to fight so that was the option they gave me. I don’t choose opponents, I’m here to fight and I want to fight the best. I’m going straight forward. That’s my style and it will never change.”
The win over “Feijao” at UFC on Fuel TV 10 in Fortaleza, Ceara was Silva’s first fight in Brazil since 2006, and he loved to be back to his homeland.
“It was a great experience, and that’s why I wanted to fight there again,” he said. “That was one of the reasons why I came to America in the first place, our sport wasn’t recognized as a sport, but I was happy to see that our people respect us. And that’s awesome, because we have some great talents there that doesn’t have the opportunity they deserve.”
Silva’s win over Cavalcante started a brief Twitter altercation with Antonio Silva, who called him out for a fight at the heavyweight division. Thiago is still open to that fight — all “Bigfoot” has to do is lose some weight.
“Bigfoot is jealous, he always was,” Thiago Silva said. “He’s a friend of Feijao and got mad because I beat him. I’m here. If he wants to fight me, just come down and we will fight. I’m a light heavyweight, so drop to 205 pounds and we have a fight. I always beat him up in trainings anyway.”