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UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson SIlva will still compete on the UFC 112 card in Abu Dhabi despite the loss of his challenger Vitor Belfort, according to Dana White in comments to MMAFighting.com. But while White claims that Silva will fight at middleweight and defend his Title, another report states it won't be against the man who earned himself a future shot with a win at UFC 109.
Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports reported Friday that Sonnen spoke with UFC matchmaker Joe Silva and he will not be offered the fight. The fact that he's not allowed to spar until March 9th at the earliest is likely the main reason he'll be passed up here, as he will then have just a month to train for the bout with Silva.
That leaves a definite predicament for the UFC, however, as after Sonnen and Belfort, there isn't anyone who has truly earned a shot. Iole mentions that perhaps they'll wait for the winner of next weekend's UFC 110 fight between Wanderlei Silva and Michael Bisping, otherwise they're left with fighters who are not ready for a Title fight or who have lost their most recent outings. Should they stick to middleweight for SIlva here it will prove to be yet another Title defense against a less than worthy opponent.
Penick's Analysis: I don't like them keeping him on this card at middleweight if he's not going to be facing Sonnen. This brings about a "Title" fight simply to advertise that a Title is on the line, as anyone else put in there with Silva will not be deemed deserving in the least and won't be considered remotely a challenge at this point. The best move would be to have him fight at 205 again or better yet move him out an event to allow for either Sonnen or Belfort to heal for their fight. There just really isn't another middleweight that should get a crack at the Title in the UFC right now outside of Sonnen and Belfort. Dana White's probably wishing he had Hendo still in the UFC right now.
[Anderson Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
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