UFC Confirms opponent for Anderson Silva

It took only one day for the UFC to find a replacement for the injured Vitor Belfort. Demian Maia will replace injured Belfort to face Anderson Silva for the UFC Middleweight title April 10th at UFC 112.

“Following a hard-fought three round win over Dan Miller at UFC 109 that showed him to be more than just a submission expert, Demian Maia will jump right back into training camp for the biggest fight of his career – an April 10thmeeting with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva in the main event of UFC 112 at Ferrari World on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.”

This is rather surprising as Maia was cut above is his eye during his fight with Dan Miller and the NSAC actually medically suspended him until August 6th unless cleared early by an ophthalmologist or ocular-plastics doctor. Guess they will find someone to clear him much earlier then August or maybe since it’s in Adu Dhabi who really cares what the NSAC to say? Most thought Chael Sonnenwould be the replacement, he was only medically Suspended until March 24 with no contact until March 9 which would have worked for him to step in but according to Dana White,

“Top contender Chael Sonnenwas not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt”

Dana White goes on to say,

“Anderson Silva vs Demian Maia will be a matchup between MMA’s best striker and MMA’s best grappler.”

I like the match up ONLY if Maia doesn’t pull a Thales Leites and lay on his back in hoped Silvajumps into guard. If Maia can Hang with silva long enough to get inside then this fight will be really intriguing to watch. Of course if Maia can’t take the fight to the ground he won’t make it past the first round. It is the classic style match up of striker vs. grappler and if the striker keeps the fight standing he’ll usually win. Really hard to bet against Silva here but it’s a very worthy replacement on somewhat short notice, just didn’t think it was possible. Look for Sonnen to get the winner of this fight in late 2010.