UFC 153 comes back to life: Anderson Silva vs. Stephan Bonnar booked for main event

We reported on Tuesday that UFC 153 lost both the main and co-main events due to injury. However, the UFC has been able to replace both fights in less than 24 hours according to a report by USA Today.

UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will take on Stephan Bonnar in the UFC 153 main event. Fabio Maldonado will replace Quinton “Rampage” Jackson in a light heavyweight bout against Glover Teixeira.

Brazilian legend Antonio Rodigo Nogueira has also been added to the card and will face Dave Herman in a heavyweight matchup.

The original main event which was a UFC featherweight fight between Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar was canceled when Aldo had to withdraw due to a foot injury sustained in training camp. The original co-main event was canceled when Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had to withdraw from his bout with Glover Teixeira with an injury.

Anderson Silva reportedly offered his services in hopes of preventing UFC 151 from being canceled. Silva offered to take a fight on eight days notice at light heavyweight which obviously would have been a non-title fight affair. UFC 151 was indeed canceled, but it appears that Anderson Silva has offered to save the day again and the UFC has taken him up on the offer.

Silva (32-4) last fought at UFC 148 where he took out long time nemesis Chael Sonnen for the second time with a TKO stoppage in the second round. He has won 16 consecutive fights in the UFC and has never tasted defeat inside the octagon while also taking two fights in the light heavyweight division.

Bonnar (14-7) last fought at UFC 139 where he won a unanimous decision over Kyle Kingsbury. Bonnar is a member of the original cast of “The Ultimate Fighter” and was a finalist where he lost to Forrest Griffin in one of the most important fights in UFC history.

Maldonado (18-5) is coming off back-to-back controversial unanimous decision losses. He’s a very exciting fighter with a granite chin and good boxing so his bout with Teixeira will not be much different style wise when compared to the style of Quinton “Rampage” Jackson.

Nogueira (33-7-1, 1NC) has not competed since having his arm snapped into by Frank Mir at UFC 140. Nogueira was scheduled to face Cheick Kongo at UFC 149, but had to withdraw from the bout. He’ll be taking on Dave Herman (21-4) who is also coming off a loss at UFC 146 against Roy Nelson. Herman was knocked out in less than a minute and has now suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his career.

UFC 153 will take place in Rio de Janeiro on October 13th at the HSBC Arena. Stay tuned to ProMMAnow (www.prommanow.com) for all of your UFC news and coverage.