UFC Officially Announces Anderson Silva Is Off UFC 212

Former longtime UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva was scheduled to return to action at June 3’s UFC 212 in Brazil against rising contender Kelvin Gastelum, but Gastelum was forced to withdraw from the fight after being flagged by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for an anti-doping violation.

After failing to receive a replacement opponent, Silva recently announced that he had stopped his training camp and that he would no longer be competing at UFC 212. Now, the UFC has officially confirmed this news.

Check out the promotion’s full statement below:

“Following the April 6 removal of Kelvin Gastelum from his UFC 212 bout against Anderson Silva, UFC officials attempted to find a replacement to meet Silva on June 3. However an opponent was not secured to face the former middleweight champion on short notice, prompting his removal from the card at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

“Due to Anderson Silva’s withdrawal, customers may request a full refund of their purchased tickets until May 18, 2017.

“To request a refund of a purchase made at the event box office or points of sale, the customer must return to the point of purchase with the original tickets. For credit card transactions, the refund will be credited to credit card statement. For debit card transactions, the refund will be credited to the account linked to the debit card used for the purchase.

“To refund a purchase made online or through the call center, the customer should access atendimento.tudus.com.br, and select the category “Cancellation” and list “UFC 212” as the subject.”

Do you expect to see Silva fight again and if so, who would you like to see him matched up against?