Anderson Silva was willing to save UFC 151 by fighting at Light Heavyweight
In the absolute hailstorm of news surrounding the cancellation of UFC 151, another interesting scenario that did not come to fruition has come to light. Apparently UFC Middleweight champion and legend Anderson Silva was willing to step up for his company and save the card by fighting at Light Heavyweight. His offer had come just a bit too late, however, as Dana White had announced the cancellation just a few hours earlier than Silva’s generous offer. It should be noted that Silva was not planning on fighting Jones for the Light Heavyweight strap, but rather another 205 lb. fighter. Silva admittedly is walking around in not the best shape right now, but he still would have fought on the now canceled UFC 151 card.
It would have been interesting to see who Silva would have fought and how the scenario played out, but as fans, we won’t have that chance. Early this morning, we saw that Vitor Belfort will now step in to face Jon Jones at UFC 152 after Lyoto Machida backed out of the title fight, citing not enough time to prepare for a rematch with Jones in what could be his final shot at UFC gold. Thankfully Belfort is an old school fighter and took the opportunity and ran with it. What’s more, apparently Mauricio Shogun Rua was offered the Sept. 22nd bout with Jones, but decided to turn it down as well. Shogun won an all-out brawl versus Brandon Vera only weeks ago at UFC on Fox 4, and was most likely not in the best of positions to face a top-level champion such as Jones on a very short notice.
All of this news has made for, without a doubt, the craziest day of MMA news ever, and there wasn’t even a single punch thrown. Zuffa has never canceled an event in their tenure as UFC owners, and they were obviously going all-out to exhaust every option concerning an opponent for Jones. Many people are already writing Vitor Belfort off, as he has opened as a massive 13-1 underdog on the debuting betting lines. After all this, does Belfort stand a chance in shocking the world and taking the 205 lb. belt from Jones?
Further Reading: Phenom-enal: Machida declines to fight Jon Jones, Vitor Belfort steps in
