Now we’ll see if he’s up for it.
Anderson Silva’s return after a one-year drugs ban will take place in London’s O2 on February 27th against Michael Bisping.
The record-breaking Brazilian beat Nick Diaz in January of this year but had the win taken from him after testing positive for several banned substances. The former middleweight champ blamed the results on a sexual enhancer.
The 40 year old will be desperate to get his career back on track, as the no-contest against Diaz came on the back of two title defeats to the recently deposed Chris Weidman and if Silva wants a shot at new champion Luke Rockhold he will need to beat Bisping.
The headline fight at UFC Fight Night 83 in his home country is a big opportunity for Bisping too and that is before you even consider the opposition is the legendary Silva, whose record stood at 17-0 (with an unprecedented 10 titles defences) before those two defeats to Weidman.
The whole event from London will be available exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.
Silva did let slip earlier this year that he thought the first opponent of his comeback would be Michael Bisping, but instead of fighting in The Spider’s hometown of Curitiba, the fight will take place in Bisping’s native England.