Anderson Silva - Belfort fight not happening at 108 !!

While the recovery from a recent elbow surgery is going just fine for UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva, Jan. 2 will simply be too soon for him to return to action.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) today spoke with Silva's manager, Ed Soares, who issued the update on "The Spider."

"The latest is he's not fighting Jan. 2," Soares said. "That's not going to happen. He won't be ready."

Silva recently had bone spurs removed from his right elbow, and the rehabilitation necessary following the procedure means Silva won't be ready to defend his title in a proposed UFC 108 matchup with Vitor Belfort.

As for when Silva will be ready to fight again, Soares said nothing is yet certain.

"We have to wait and see," Soares said. "Anderson went back to Brazil, and he's continuing his physical therapy there. But there's no set date yet."

But Soares insisted the progress was ahead-of-schedule, and Silva fans have no cause for concern.

"Anderson's recovery is going really, really well," Soares said. "He's coming back, and his recovery is doing really good. His physical therapy is going really well. He's getting better range of motion. He'll be back 100 percent for sure."

While he's not sure exactly when Silva will again step into the octagon, Soares assumes Belfort will still be the opponent on the opposite side of cage.

"I think it's going to be Vitor when Anderson comes back," Soares said. "That's what I'm assuming."

And though Soares has openly questioned the UFC's decision to grant Belfort a middleweight title shot despite the fact that he has yet to fight in the organization at 185 pounds, Silva's manager said he and his fighter are now looking forward to the test.

"At the end of the day, it's going to be a great fight," Soares said. "Like I said before, I don't think [Belfort] deserves a title shot, but that's over with now. It is what it is.

"Whoever the UFC puts in front of us, we'll fight. We've never picked our opponents."



http://mmajunkie.com/news/16684/anderson-silva-vs-vitor-belfort-not-happening-at-ufc-108-in-january.mma

I think Silva-Vitor and Machida-Shogun will both happen at 109.

Yeah Lesnar could pretty much sell 108 by himself if he had too. Keeping the LHW and MW title defences for later in the year would seem like a smart decsion.

Have we just been spammmed??

wow! we got spammed, we are a proper forum now!

More bad news for the UFC, Machida is going to have surgery on his hand so won't make UFC108 for the Shogun rematch.

Yeah thought as much. I reckon 109 for him too.

Just as well Brock has the sniffles and had to postpone his fight at UFC 106 for UFC 108.

What a coincidence

Machida said immediately after the fight that he thought his hand was broken. No conspiracy with this one.

He also has stiches in his upper lip, and rumoured to have busted ribs too.

He had minor plastic surgery to repair where he bit through his lip. His ribs are just bruised as far as i know, nothing broken there. So he'll be able to do cardio training and weight training and shadow box, and work on his legs and movement. He's still going to be actively preparing for Shogun.

Anfields5thKing wrote:I think Silva-Vitor and Machida-Shogun will both happen at 109.

I don't think they'll have 2 title shots on the same card again. For one it wouldn't make commercial sense. The UFC can use those 2 fights to sell 2 events not just one and make even more money!!

UFC 108 is a cursed card, Lesnar vs Carwin is off, Shogun vs Machida is off and Silva vs Belfort is off... all due to sickness or Injury...

I think its cursed!!

Heres another Idea, Vitor vs Nate MArquardt. Not that Hendo is out of the picture they are the top dogs at 185. Vitor probabally hoesnt want to sit about scratching himself so this fight could well happen at UFC 108