Anderson Silva moving up to face Stephan Bonnar in new UFC 153 main event; Big-time superfight next?

Anderson Silva | photo: UFC.com / Getty Images

The UFC has had to deal with a lot of tough spots lately, with the cancellation of UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson and subsequent injuries to Jose Aldo and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson chief amongst their recent worries.

“It’s all part of the business and we have to deal with it,” said UFC front man Dana White to Yahoo Sports recently.

“Jose Aldo gets hit by a car, screwed up his foot, he’s hurt, he’s out. Rampage Jackson messes up his elbow, he’s hurt, he’s out. The main event and the co-main event on the same day within an hour of each other in two different continents. I don’t know, I gotta fix it now. You know, I gotta fix it. I have time to fix this one.”

And fix it he has with the recent announcement of a new headliner for UFC 153 in Rio de Janeiro as recent announced in USA Today.

They’ve confirmed that UFC middleweight champ and arguably MMA’s pound-for-pound best Anderson Silva will be moving up to light heavyweight to face one of the “American Psycho” Stephan Bonnar.

“We’re back on track,” said White about the upcoming bout scheduled to take place October 13^th in Rio.

Bonnar had previously been doing more broadcast work than fighting leading into this one and Silva also wasn’t scheduled to fight on this card at all but they’ve both decided to step up to the plate for what should be an entertaining main event.

For The Ultimate Fighter season one alum Stephan Bonnar, this is one more crack at the pinnacle of the sport.  It’s the type of fight that he’s wanted, as opposed to playing a gatekeeper role to young up-and-coming fighters looking to make a name off him.

Rio de Janeiro | photo: MIke Calimbas

And for the 37 year old Anderson “Spyder” Silva, he may consider this a tune-up fight at 205 lbs. in preparation for a potential mega-fight, at Dallas Cowboys Stadium no less, with light heavyweight kingpin and P4P heir apparent Jon Jones sometime in 2013.

If Jones gets past Vitor Belfort on Sept. 22^nd at UFC 152 and Silva wins in typical fashion over Bonnar, there’s no doubt fans will be clamoring for that bout next as possibly the biggest MMA fight of all time.

Or Jones could be put to the test to drop down to face another top P4P fighter in welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre provided he get past his own long-awaited title defense against Carlos Condit.

Anything could happen with the unpredictable climate that is MMA so a superfight next with either man could be the best possible option for Silva after this fight and at this stage in his career.

We’ll worry about that as it comes.

As for the rest of UFC 153 in Rio, Glover Teixeira will now be facing fellow Brazilian Fabio Maldonado instead of Rampage while Tatame reports that “Big Nog” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will also be making his return on the card against rising heavyweight Dave Herman in addition to the fights already on the fight card listed below.

Back on track indeed.

UFC 153 – Main Card (PPV)

Light Heavyweight – Anderson Silva vs.  Stephan Bonnar
Light Heavyweight – Glover Teixeira vs.  Fabio Maldonado
Heavyweight – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs.  Dave Herman
Welterweight – Erick Silva vs.  Jon Fitch
Light Heavyweight – Phil Davis vs.  Wagner Prado
Welterweight – Demian Maia vs.  Rick Story

UFC 153 -Preliminary Card (FX)

Featherweight – Rony Jason vs.  Sam Sicilia
Heavyweight – Gabriel Gonzaga vs.  Geronimo dos Santos
Lightweight – Gleison Tibau vs.  Francisco Trinaldo
Featherweight – Diego Brandao vs.  Joey Gambino

UFC 153 -Preliminary Card (Facebook)

Welterweight – Sergio Moraes vs.  Renee Forte
Middleweight – Luiz Cané vs.  Chris Camozzi
Lightweight – Cristiano Marcello vs.  Reza Madadi