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Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva (pictured) won’t be headlining a pay-per-view event when he returns from a one-year drug suspension. Silva won’t event get top billing on a FOX or Fox Sports 1 show.
Nope, Silva will face Michael Bisping on an event streamed on UFC Fight Pass.
The show takes place February 27 at The O2 in London, England, roughly one month after Silva’s ban for using multiple performance-enhancing drugs is lifted.
Silva, the man who was once considered by most pundits as MMA’s GOAT, had lost two straight scraps to Chris Weidman to evaporate his aura of invincibility before testing positive on multiple occasions for multiple PEDs in January’s fight against Nick Diaz.
Silva’s unanimous decision win over Diaz at UFC 183 was subsequently overturned to a no contest. “The Spider” hasn’t posted a win since making Stephan Bonnar look silly in October 2012.
Silva turns 41 in April.
Bisping, meanwhile, will be riding a two-fight winning streak into the tango he’s been petitioning for. He took a unanimous decision over C.B. Dollaway in January before outpointing Thales Leites in July.
Here is the card’s current lineup:
Nikita Krylov vs. Jimi Manuwa
Jarjis Danho vs. Daniel Omielanczuk
Teemu Packalen vs. Lukasz Sajewski
Martin Svensson vs. David Teymur
Arnold Allen vs. Yaotzin Meza
Davey Grant vs. Marlon Vera
Henry Briones vs. Brad Pickett
Tom Breese vs. Keita Nakamura
Rustam Khabilov vs. Norman Parke
Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Wilkinson
Gegard Mousasi vs. TBD
Michael Bisping vs. Anderson Silva
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