Anderson Silva will replace Jon Jones at UFC 200 and take on light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in a non-title match.
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“I think it’s an interesting, fun fight”, said UFC president Dana White.
“Is there anything I can do?”
Jones was removed from the UFC’s landmark card Wednesday night after the potential doping violation was first discovered in a sample taken June 16. “I’m here to challenge myself, and I think that I haven’t trained in a few months, but I think that I’m in good condition to go in there and put on a good fight”.
The fight will be actually only be three round because Silva is fighting on only two days’ notice.
Anderson Silva has not been in action since his shock defeat to Britain’s Michael Bisping at London’s O2 Arena back in February in a unanimous decision. Neither came. While Silva did inflict some damage late on, Cormier rode the fight out and the judges all scored the fight 30-26 in Cormier’s favour.
If Jones really does end up sitting out for two years, Cormier will have to move forward to defend his title multiple times before the former champion could even be eligible to return.
Wrestling was the name of the game for Cormier as he started employing ground-and-pound and ground Silva’s energy away controlling the fight from the top. He also announced that Miesha Tate vs. Amanda Nunes will be the new main event, citing Tate deserving the spotlight for taking the belt off Holly Holm, who defeated Ronda Rousey. A heavyweight fight between Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt will serve as co-headliner.
Personally, I am a fan of the fact that now in both UFC/ MMA and Professional wrestling women are being given more of a push and are actually dominating in a generally male dominating industry.
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The 41 year old Silva requested a 3 round fight, rather than the standard 5 rounds Cormier would’ve fought in his matchup with Jones.
