The UFC caught everyone by surprise on Christmas Eve when they announced that Anderson Silva Vs Michael Bisping would be the new main event for UFC Fight Night 83 in London, England on February 27th, and the two men involved have since briefly commented on the match-up.
In true Bisping fashion, the Brit was quick to reference the fact that Silva will be returning from a year long suspension after testing positive for steroids at UFC 183 in January – something that the former long-time middleweight champion and legend of the sport had tried to blame on a viagra style pill he’d been given by a friend.
“@SpiderAnderson see you in London my friend!” Bisping wrote. “Just leave the viagra out of it! #randomtesting.”
Meanwhile, Silva took the higher ground, instead choosing to just focus on the fight, while indicating that at the age of 40 he still has ambitions to work his way back to the belt he successfully defended 10 times between 2006 and 2013.
“I would love it if the fight were to happen in Brazil, but it will be a pleasure to come back and fight Michael Bisping in London, at the O2 Arena,” Silva told Combate.
“It has been a long time since I last fought in London and I’m really excited to come back. I believe it will be a huge test so I can go after a title shot.”
Silva has fought four times in London during his time with the Cage Rage promotion prior to signing with the UFC, defeating the likes of Lee Murray, Jorge Rivera, Curtis Stout and then Tony Fryklund.
When Silva steps into the Octagon in February he’ll be looking for his first win in three fights as his unanimous decision victory against Nick Diaz last time out was amended to a ‘no-contest’ due to his failed drug tests, while prior to that he’d lost twice to Chris Weidman.
As for Bisping, he’s looking to put together a trio of wins after defeating both CB Dollaway and Thales Leites in 2015.
