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Roy Nelson had posted on Twitter on Saturday that he had been offered the fight against Velasquez, but UFC President Dana White put that notion to bed on Sunday, and instead it will be Nelson's originally scheduled opponent, Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva, getting the fight.
"Don't believe any of the BS you read on the internet," White wrote on Twitter. "Cain is fighting Bigfoot Silva May 26th in Vegas."
Silva is making his UFC debut, one of the many Strikeforce imports that continue to trickle in with the dissolution of the heavyweight division in the UFC's new sister organization. He is looking to bounce back from a knockout loss to Daniel Cormier, and he now finds himself in a much better fight in this debut.
Velasquez was knocked out in his last bout as well, losing his title to dos Santos at the UFC's debut event on Fox. That was the first loss of his career, and he'll look to get right back into title contention with this fight.
Penick's Analysis: This was another expected move for the UFC with Mir moving up. Nelson doesn't have an opponent now, but it's possible one of the fighters who won at UFC 145 last night could be moved into that slot. Both Travis Browne and Ben Rothwell could make sensible replacement opponents for Nelson, it just depends on what the UFC would like to do. As for this fight itself, it should be Velasquez's all the way. He's somewhat a taller version of the man that just defeated Silva in Cormier, not to mention a teammate of the former Olympian at AKA. Silva's getting a big opportunity here by default, but he'll be a heavy underdog.
[Cain Velasquez art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]
Karn Grigorian Karen Grigoryan Kendall Grove Clay Guida Jason Guida
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