Wanderlei Silva’s birthday gift is all set - a July 3rd fight with Yoshihiro Akiyama at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, Fighters Only can reveal. Silva was born on July 3rd 1976, which means he will turn 34 on the night he faces the Japanese-Korean judo stylist.
It has long been rumoured that Silva’s next opponent would be Akiyama. The two were originally thought to be meeting at UFC 110 before Silva-Bisping was made and UFC president Dana White said after that event that Silva would probably fight Akiyama next.
But the date was not set until recently. One of the fighters has signed and returned his bout agreements and the other is expected to be returned this week, making the clash official for UFC 116. The event will also see the return of UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, who will face the winner of the Shane Carwin/Frank Mir fight that takes place at UFC 111 this weekend.
Silva is coming off a unanimous decision win over Bisping, his first fight since dropping to the middleweight division. He has gone 2-3 since joining the UFC in the wake of PRIDE FC’s demise, with three of those fights taking place at light-heavyweight.
Akiyama made his North American debut at UFC 100 and defeated Alan Belcher in his first fight for the company. The former K-1 HERO’s light-heavyweight champion is an accomplished judoka and has just one loss on his 16-fight record.
That loss came in only his second MMA fight when he fought the much bigger Jerome Le Banner, a K-1 kickboxer who outweighed him by nearly 100lbs. Akiyama has defeated Melvin Manhoef and Denis Kang, but also has two no contests on his record as a result of foul play; one was an illegal kick, the other a greasing incident.
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