Dana White: Anderson Silva NOT in Consideration for UFC on FOX, But…

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Contrary to TATAME.com’s top secret sources, UFC president Dana White claims middleweight king Anderson Silva is not in the running to headline the company’s first show on FOX.

“That’s not true,” White told MMAFighting following Thursday’s press conference. “I was cruising around on the Internet and saw that, it’s not true.”

Even if “The Spider” were to uphold his 5-to-1 favorite status and make quick work of Yushin Okami at UFC 134, MMA’s ultimate shot caller professed it’s completely out of the question.

“If he goes out and wins in 13 seconds, he’s not considered for the FOX show. No,” White reiterated.

Oddly, when asked who might star in the UFC’s first primetime television extravaganza, White insisted on waiting until after Saturday’s pay-per-view broadcast in Brazil to finalize things. His response might lead some to believe Silva could still be a possibility.

“I’m working on it right now,” White said of FOX’s featured attraction. “You know me, I have to get the deal done and I have to know that both guys are gonna accept the fight. Saying that, even though I say that [Silva] won’t fight on the FOX card, I’m watching what happens this weekend before I decide who’s gonna fight on FOX.”

On Wednesday, TATAME suggested a victorious and unscathed Silva would make a quick turnaround to rematch Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Dan Henderson on November 12th. Hendo became the sport’s hottest free agent after putting Fedor Emelianenko to sleep last month.

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interesting....

Better make it big and exciting! It doesn't have to be the biggest names, but it has to be two exciting big names. This event will be tapping into more homes that ever before. This is an extremely important event for MMA as a whole.

I actually thought it was odd for Silva to be the front runner. We all know he has put on some real snoozers before and it was in a situation where he should have been putting on the best fight ever... does the UFC really wanna risk another Abu Dhabi situation?

You are spot on with that one man. Chris Lytle needs to come outta retirement for one more.

Isn't it kinda sad that the two P4P kings would be the worst fighters to have on this card? Man where does that put us? LOL

Anyways, we need fireworks. We can't recreate a Bonnar/Griffin fight, that just isn't happening; however, they can put the two most exciting fighters they have on roster to headline this thing. Sprinkle in some bantamweights and lightweights and we got ourselves a card.

What would work is a title fight that makes sense in this situation. What better fight than Cruz vs Johnson? It is already scheduled for October 1st and is already a free event. Push that back to November 12th and you have, at least, a title fight to compete with Pacquiao/Marquez. But hell, I would go one step further and make this a real fucking deal. Strip Aldo vs Florian off of the ppv card and sit them back to Nov 12th as well. Either that or put some big boys in there and have Valasquez vs Santos moved off of that ppv and up one week. To me the heavies make sense more, just to diversities the card, but they also are the only headlining fight on that card right now. Whereas Aldo/Florian are sharing theirs with another title fight.

Basically there are options available with existing fights already. All the title fights are booked right now though, so there are only three that make since atm. One making more sense than the others imo.

I kinda trust that White and Silva will come up with a couple of really good fights for this one.

Come on now... you guys know Dana White's style by now.
It's gonna be Silva vs. Henderson or Sonnen. Dana just isn't showing his hand yet because that's how Dana rolls. He doesn't wanna give away any info, even though said info has already been leaked. He's just trying to play it close to the vest in hopes of not spoiling the surprise. It happened with GSP vs Diaz, and countless other fights that were supposed to be "undisclosed".


I'll bet anything that Silva fights either Hendo or Sonnen on the Fox card (as long as Silva beats Okami).

all titles should go on the line for the opening.How can that not bring in big numbers, when half your card is title fights!!!!!?

My guess is that he is eyeing the winner of the Shogun vs Forrest match to fight Henderson for the #1 contender spot.

Grey Suit wrote:

My guess is that he is eyeing the winner of the Shogun vs Forrest match to fight Henderson for the #1 contender spot.

now theres an idea.... plus with Shogun or Forrest you don't have The Abu Dhabi incident lingering in the back of your mind the whole time... I like it!

#1 contender spot for what? Isn't the LHW division pretty much spoken for over the next year or so? You Rampage and Jones fighting, and Rashad is already getting the next shot.