Thiago Silva continues to be troubled by problems with his back and that’s forced him to pull out of a co-main event fight with Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 149 in Calgary, Canada.
The UFC have quick attempted to find a suitable replacement for Silva, with newcomer Glover Teixeira who made an excellent first impression when he claimed a first round submission win over Kyle Kingsbury at UFC 146 being their first choice.
However, Dana White has revealed that the fight has met with resistance from Rua’s camp.
“‘Shogun’s’ people are adamantly refusing to take the fight. They want nothing to do with Glover,” White told MMAJunkie.
“Shogun’ wants nothing to do with Glover. But that’s the fight Lorenzo and I are trying to put together.”
It may seem that ‘Shogun’ is a big leap up the ranks for Teixeira, but he’s someone that the UFC have wanted in their ranks for quite some time and with an 18-2 overall record he’s got both the skill and the experience to handle a fight with the former champion if it could be arranged.
‘Shogun’ is currently looking to bounce back after a hard fought loss to Dan Henderson at the end of last year which would later claim ‘Fight Of The Year’ status.
