Over the past few years, the UFC has used a number of different hooks to lure you into buying Anderson Silva‘s fights on pay-per-view, from building Silva up as a supernaturally-gifted phenom to acknowledging the ridiculousness of his matchups. So here’s a new angle: To hype Silva’s UFC 162 middleweight title fight against Chris Weidman, the UFC has cut together clips of Gray Maynard, Georges St. Pierre, and Rashad Evans talking about Weidman as if he’s the next champ. Indeed, “every fighter out there” apparently thinks Silva is going to lose his belt on July 6th.

Call it trash-talk by proxy. Weidman isn’t speaking for himself in this promo because, 1) having other people do it lends him credibility by association, and 2) the sound of Chris Weidman’s voice has never gotten anybody excited for anything. Not trying to hate, here. Chris is just a soft-spoken, respectful dude who does his talking in the cage. And that’s fine. And that’s why GSP and Joe Rogan are doing the talking for him.

Whether that’s an effective promotional strategy or not remains to be seen, but I think this clip captures the current zeitgeist among MMA fans. Whether it’s because they truly believe that Weidman possesses the skills to knock Silva off his throne, or they’re just getting tired of King Andy’s bloody reign, it feels like public support is leaning hard on the challenger this time.

So who are you picking for Silva vs. Weidman? And why? And are your reasons actually rooted in reality?

According to fight business uber reporter Dave Meltzer, the UFC is considering making a super fight between middleweight champion Anderson Silva and light heavyweight champion Jon Jones happen this fall in Cowboys Stadium in Dallas, Texas. Of course, Silva would have to beat Chris Weidman this July and come out relatively unscathed for the super fight to remain viable and Jones himself would have to of healed from his grisly toe injury.

After a recent visit to the doctor, it looks like Jones could be healthy in time for a super fight. More on that later in the post. First, the scuttlebutt.

“There is an idea floating around to try and put on the biggest show in company history at Cowboys Stadium in Dallas this fall,” Meltzer reports in his Wrestling Observer newsletter.

“The idea would be to have Silva vs. Jon Jones and Velasquez vs. Dos Santos at the stadium, in October, at the same time as the state fair of Texas, perhaps on 10/12 or 10/19. That much is known to be at least something talked about. With Madison Square Garden seeming more and more unlikely for November, this show could be billed as UFC 20th anniversary show, with the idea of trying to repeat the success of UFC 100.”

(Thursday’s media scrum with Dana White, via MMA Heat)

Just a couple days after floating the possibility that middleweight champion Anderson Silva and light-heavyweight king Jon Jones could meet in a super fight within the year, UFC President Dana White gave the media another tantalizingly qualified statement pertaining to the matchup.

“[Jones and I] talked [Wednesday],” White told assembled media during a scrum Thursday after the UFC 160 press conference. ”His thing is, he says he feels great and the toe’s healing good. But the problem was that ligament. That ligament popped. Anywhere you tear a ligament, blood flow helps the thing repair itself and heal, and you don’t get a lot of blood flow at the toe.”

Jones injured his toe in his successful title defense over Chael Sonnen last month. He is currently in Russia but White says that when Jones returns, he’ll get an MRI to get a sense of how soon his toe might be ready for training and fighting again.

“Who knows – this thing could be six weeks, or it could be six months,” White said. “It’s a pain in the ass. It’s always some crazy little thing. He’s in Russia, and when he gets back he’s getting an MRI done on his toe again.”

(Where did Brittney Palmer, Arianny Celeste, and Kenda Perez land on the 2013 Maxim Hot 100 list? Find out right here. / Photo via Maxim.com)

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(Well, I guess it’s back to the dollar menu for a while.)

Anderson Silva was recently fined $50,000 for missing what the UFC described as a day of media obligations in Los Angeles to promote his July UFC 162 middleweight title defense against Chris Weidman. A pissed-off Dana White said of Silva, “Everybody wants more money, more money, more money, but nobody wants to sell the fight or go out and talk to the media. Talking to the media is part of your job, whether you like it or not.”

Had Silva really turned the corner from giving his usual reluctant, terse (if occasionally clever) answers to press and gone Full Diaz — skipping media events entirely with both middle fingers in the air? According to the champ, no. Although his response to getting punished by the organization was quite Diazian. In short: Bro, Anderson totally didn’t even know about these appointments. And, besides, his job is to train and fight, not talk.

“I’ve never missed any commitment to the UFC. I would never have made the trip to Brazil if I knew I had to be in Los Angeles,” Silva said, according to a translation by Sherdog of an interview given to Brazilian outlet, Veja.

(via YouTube.com/CagePotato)

On July 6th, top-ranked UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman will return from a year-long layoff to challenge Anderson Silva, considered by many to be the greatest mixed martial artist who’s ever lived. It goes without saying that the UFC 162 main event is the greatest test of Weidman’s career — and one that would make most middleweights more than a little nervous — but the Long Island-bred “All-American” isn’t the least bit intimidated. And he knows exactly how he’s going to steal the belt that Anderson’s held for six-and-a-half years.

CagePotato reporter Brian J. D’Souza caught up with Weidman recently at Grants MMA Gym in Toronto, and got his take on a number of interesting subjects, including his gameplan for the Spider, the rib injury that spurred his foray into MMA, his surprising contract status with the UFC, and more. Some highlights:

Why he hasn’t signed a new contract with the UFC yet: “I’m not looking to negotiate an extra couple grand right before a title fight. My goal is to be champion, and I know that’s where you get the real money. That’s where you get the ‘Anderson Silva money,’ so that’s what I’m looking to get.”

How he’ll beat Silva: “I think the biggest thing is once you get him down, to stay relaxed and not to be so tense. I think I have a pretty smooth, aggressive game, and I’m pretty relentless with my cardio, and that’s one of my things that I have most pride in. So, I feel like I’m going to have the cardio to where he’s going to break before I break. I’m going to be all over him.”

Anderson’s mind games: “One of Anderson’s Silva’s best traits in MMA is that he gets inside people’s heads. Before they even step in the cage, he has a certain mystique about him that intimidates people. He earned that over the years. But even when they get in the cage with him, he makes sure to make them feel as if he’s on a whole ‘nother level. And then he waits for them to believe him in that, and he freakin’ mentally and physically breaks them…I’m just going to be confident. I’m not going to be worried about what he’s doing, I’m worried about what I’m doing.”

Please subscribe to CagePotato’s YouTube channel, and visit BrianDSouza.com for more of Brian’s MMA coverage.

(This “20 Staredowns That Got Physical” video conveniently cuts off before Ricardo Mayorga flash-KO’s Din Thomas with a karate chop to the neck. Props: MMADigest)

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We all knew that number one middleweight contender Chris Weidman, like, really wanted to fight champion Anderson Silva. Alot.

Now that he’s got his wish, he’s also apparently not interested in the potential security of a new contract until after he fights Silva, either. The young challenger recently told MMA Junkie Radio that he may not sign a new contract with the UFC before fighting Silva.

“I think we’re just going to keep the contract,” he told Junkie.

“I’m definitely OK with making what I was making. I think I was making $24,000 (to show) and $24,000 (as a win bonus). I want to do that because then after I beat Anderson like I plan on doing, then obviously the contract will jump up more than if I was to rip up the contract now. I’m ready to put all my eggs in one basket and put my money where my mouth is.”

There’s a chance Weidman might have a shot at getting a raise if he were to sign a new contract with the UFC before fighting the champion but it appears as if he wants the jackpot or nothing at all. Weidman seems so confident that he’ll be the new 185 pound champion after his next fight that he’d like to delay negotiating with the UFC until after he’s wearing the gold.

Ballsy move, Chris.

Or, an impossible move. That will likely depend on how many fights he’s got on his contract and what the UFC’s current policy about these types of things currently are.

(Video by Sports Net Canada)

During a recent interview with Sports Net Canada, UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre took a moment to shit on UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. St. Pierre was called out publicly for months by Silva, who wanted the welterweight champion to come up in weight and fight him in a super fight.

St. Pierre will instead fight Nick Diaz Saturday at UFC 158. Silva will finally fight Chris Weidman later this year. St. Pierre trains regularly in New York City with Phil Nurse and Renzo Gracie boys. Weidman’s Jiu Jitsu lineage goes back to Renzo and GSP calls the #1 middleweight challenger his friend.

And he thinks his relatively unknown friend will smack around Silva with ease.

“I believe he’s going to beat Anderson Silva. I believe it’s a bad match-up for Anderson Silva. Very bad,” he said with a smile. “Not only he’s going to beat, I believe he’s going to beat Anderson Silva. I believe it’s not going to be too long, that fight.”

GSP does leave himself one out, though. He implies that Silva intentionally signed to fight Weidman only now because the challenger will be coming off of major surgery and a long layoff. “Anderson Silva is smart,” Georges says.

“The time to fight [Weidman] is now.”

What do you think, ‘taters? Will GSP be as giddy as Floyd Mayweather was after Manny Pacquiao got knocked out in his last fight if Weidman manages to dethrone Silva? Do you agree that Weidman has a good chance at not just beating Anderson but doing so quickly and with ease?

- Elias Cepeda

(If 10 cc’s of Desflurane can’t keep this kid down, NOTHING CAN.) 

I was there. I was there the last time Anderson Silva was listed as anything less than a 3-to-1 favorite over his opponent. It was called 2011. Barack Obama was President, George W. Bush was in the White House, and Bill Clinton was running this country into the ground. The event was UFC 126, which was being held in a little hole in the wall town in what is now Nevada. Some fella by the name of Vitor shows up, starts picking off so-called “former middleweight champions.” Before we knew what hit us, he was trying to dethrone old Andy in our own backyard. So Vitor had to go.

Now this fella by the name of Weidman storms into town, flashing them dimes like a big shot and making noise, and wouldn’t you know it, he’s currently listed as one of the smallest underdogs (+165) Anderson has faced in his entire UFC career. It’s a load of claptrap if you ask me; this Weidman feller hasn’t fought in almost a year and is coming off shoulder surgery to boot. But if history is any indication, a moderately-favored Anderson Silva is the most dangerous Anderson Silva. Be careful what you wish for, Weidman. Be careful. What. You. Wish. For.

[UPDATED] – 4 p.m.

Well, that was a lot of buildup for nothing. In the hours since this was originally written, Anderson has already improved to just under a 3-to-1 favorite. Still, it seems that the bookies are giving Weidman’s grappling prowess a lot of respect all things considered.

I apologize for wasting your time.

-J. Jones

(“Operation Stockton Jesus Journey, has begun.” Props: prebek)

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(“I…[*punch*]…HATE…[*punch*]…FRIGGIN’…[*punch*]…CLOWNS!!!” Photo via MMAWeekly)

From threatening a year-long vacation to suggesting far-less-worthy challengers, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva and his management team did their best to avoid fighting undefeated contender Chris Weidman. But according to a new report from Mark La Monica at Newsday, the match is going to happen, whether they like it or not. Here’s the scoop:

ALBANY — Chris Weidman will finally get the title shot against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva on July 4th weekend at UFC 161 in Las Vegas, Newsday has learned. [Update: The fight will actually headline UFC 162, on July 6th. UFC 161 is the Winnipeg event that will be headlined by Barao vs. Wineland.]

UFC chief executive Lorenzo Fertitta on Wednesday told Weidman, a Baldwin native, in the Capitol building that he spoke to Silva and that he agreed to the fight.

“Dream come true,” Weidman said. “Ever since I’ve been fighting, Anderson Silva has been the champion and I’ve been visualizing beating him. Now I have the opportunity. I have to make the most of it.”

(“Then it’s settled: I’ll win the first fight, you’ll win the rematch, and Chael will win the rubber-match via surprise run-in after blinding the referee.”)

During our typical mid-afternoon routine of checking out Brazilian porn sites sport sites and using Google translate to help us out with comprehension — some Brazilian things don’t need translation, but some do — we stumbled across the latest vague and too-good-to-be-true Anderson Silva fight news. Recently, we had a tease about Silva finally fighting the rightful number one contender to his belt, and yesterday we read that, according to “The Spider,” he wants to face UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones this year.

SportTV says that last Wednesday Anderson told a bunch of Brazilian cats that he expects to fight Jones this year in New York City but that the bout would need to be a non-title, catch-weight affair. Apparently, fighting James Irvin, Stephan Bonnar, and former champ Forrest Griffin at light-heavyweight is one thing, but fighting the biggest and best talent we’ve ever seen in the division at 205 is another.

Given that nothing appears to be signed and that Jones has the small matter of defending his belt first against wronged pizza baron Chael Sonnen this spring, we can’t get too excited about this development. Still, Anderson’s reported comments paint him as perhaps more amenable to a fight against Jones than he has ever been before.

(Anderson Silva and Dana White via Mommy, What Will I Look Like?)

Whether he has truly “earned it” or not yet (which is a debate that we should just stop having from here on out, because honestly), Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva is a fight that MMA fans have been clamoring for ever since Weidman beat Mark Munoz into a living death at UFC on FUEL 4 last July. At first, Silva simply ignored our advice outright. Then, in one of the most brilliantly executed circle jerks in MMA history, Silva used the media-thwarting vessel known as Ed Soares to call out Michael Bisping, then Luke Rockhold (who was still a Strikeforce fighter at the time), and finally Cung Le.

Silva’s media roundabout, budding movie career, and occasional trips to the light heavyweight division had fans questioning whether or not we’d ever see the middleweight champion return to the division he has dominated since 2006. So if you’re one for optimism, you’ll find comfort in the fact that multiple sources including Brazil’s Tatame are reporting that Silva vs. Weidman is “in the works” for a July event. Finally. However, if you’re like the rest of us, you’ll realize the futility of phrases like “in the works” or “probably coming back to the UFC” or “will get the next title shot” in regards to the UFC and just move along. Nothing to see here.

The last time we saw Anderson Silva’s manager Ed Soares, he was telling Inside MMA — with a straight face! — that Michael Bisping would be a good option for Silva’s next middleweight title defense. After all, it’s Soares’s job to help his client get big fights that the fans want to see. (His response when Bas Rutten suggested that Anderson fight UFC light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones: “AhhhhhhIdunno.”)

So now that Bisping has fallen short in yet another “win this one and you get a title shot” match, Soares finally has to accept the reality that Chris Weidman is the most worthy contender to Silva’s crown, right? Right? RIGHT? Well, if you believe that, then you simply don’t know the enigma that is Ed Soares. He’s got another Plan B in mind, and it’s about as left-field as matchmaking gets. Here’s what he told CageFanatic in an interview last week, as transcribed by MMAMania:

“(Silva’s next fight) is still up in the air man, we don’t know who that is. Unfortunately Bisping lost which was a big thing but I’m not too sure. I’m not too sure who could be next…we want to fight someone who has a little bit of a name, someone that has as big of a name as possible and that’s on a winning record or a winning run right now. Right now it seems like most of the guys with names have had losses very recently. So, when I think about it, like the only thing that comes to mind and I don’t even know if that would be a possible fight is, you know, like Cung Le is coming off of three wins or something like that [Ed. note: Yeah, or something like that.] where he’s got a little bit of a name, but I mean it’s really hard in that division because it’s so evenly matched all the opponents on any given day one of those guys can beat each other, so you know, once again whoever the UFC decided we’re in…

(We’re not trying to say that Bisping is looking past Vitor Belfort, but…yes, Bisping is literally looking past Vitor Belfort. / Photo via @vitorbelfort)

The UFC has always seemed to favor British star Michael Bisping, so it came as a surprise when Dana White announced to media on Saturday that “The Count” would “probably” receive a middleweight title shot should he beat Vitor Belfort next month in Brazil. I mean, why would Dana give the poor, defenseless Brit a virtual death sentence in a fight with Anderson Silva?

Oh, that’s right — Bisping has, in the verbiage of much of the media, “been campaigning for years” for a shot at the middleweight title. Of course, Bisping’s arguments have been more verbal than physical lately, as his current win streak stands at 1. (Still, that’s one more than Nick Diaz and Chael Sonnen can boast; if anything, Bisping is over-qualified to fight for the belt.) In related news, it was announced that Chris Weidman will now have to begin fighting and beating two opponents at once from now on to earn consideration for a shot at the middleweight title.

Anyway, this is just one of those “news” items that exists primarily to anger us, more than anything else. Bisping could very likely be creamed by Belfort at UFC on FX 7. Or, maybe Dana’s vague promise of a resulting title shot is just something he likes to say to make a fight seem more important.

After the jump: A video highlight of Michael Bisping getting knocked out by Dan Henderson. Yes, it really is a highlight video of that one punch over and over, along with arrogant promises from Bisping that belied his lack of self-awareness, and brief moments of him having difficulty opening a door. And before you accuse us of posting this just to bash the Count, well, we are, but only because he’s a bullying, cheating, race-baiting dick who is prejudiced against the short. That’s all.

(Weidman delivering an inspirational speech while still in his hospital bed, following surgery Wednesday | Via Weidman’s Youtube account)

The first step in Chris Weidman’s elaborate counter-plan to UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva chasing super-fights and blatantly avoiding him was completed Wednesday, as the contender underwent successful shoulder surgery. Weidman went under the knife to repair a host of problems, including a torn AC joint and a torn labrum and rotator cuff.

Unbeaten in nine professional fights, Weidman set himself apart as the clear number one contender to Silva’s belt with wins over former title challenger Demian Maia and fellow top contender Mark Munoz. The Long Island native’s campaign towards gold came at an inconvenient time as the champion turned his attention instead towards fights with Stephan Bonnar and, potentially, Georges St. Pierre, claiming he had no interest in defending his belt for some time.

Weidman was then matched up with Tim Boetsch at UFC 155, but his recent injuries forced him to pull out of the bout. Silva is still campaigning for the fight with St. Pierre, but GSP seems reluctant, at best, to make it happen. With Silva off filming the next, great crime film epic and saying he won’t fight again until late 2013, it looks like he and the number one contender’s schedules might just match up once more. Through his twitter account, Weidman said, “Surgery went perfect…I will be 90 percent in three months and 100 in four!”

Well, we should have seen this coming.

Not that it matters to Anderson Silva, but UFC 155 was supposed to set the stage for a fight that would more or less* determine the next top contender of the middleweight division when Chris Weidman and Tim Boetsch squared off. But as things are wont to do in 2012, it has just been announced that Weidman has suffered an undisclosed injury and has been forced to pull out from his scheduled fight at UFC 155. Newsday was the first to break the news:

Chris Weidman, one of the top UFC middleweight fighters, is out of UFC 155 next month with a shoulder injury, Newsday has learned.

Weidman said the injury occured Tuesday while training in Arizona with UFC light heavyweight Ryan Bader and Levittown-based Strikeforce light heavyweight Gian Villante. The injury occured during a grappling session, the 28-year-old Weidman said.

“I hit a double-leg and that’s it,” Weidman said Wednesday. “My shoulder landed weird and I felt a pop. I can’t even move my arm.”

Weidman said that he hasn’t received an official diagnosis from doctors, but he believes it is a torn labrum.

(We can’t be the only ones seeing the metaphorical connection here, right?) 

Less than a week ago, Hurricane Sandy blew through the Northeast like the seventh plague of Egypt, leaving over 40,000 New Yorkers alone without a home to go back to. One of the people we originally reported to be among the homeless was UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman, whose house was “lost in the storm” according to a tweet sent out by UFC light heavyweight Ryan Bader.

And although it turns out that the damage wasn’t as bad as we reported (his house is still standing for starters), it will still be weeks, if not months, before Weidman’s home is deemed livable again. Luckily for us, Weidman was generous enough to give MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani a tour of his home and the surrounding damage and even managed to capture some footage of his house as the storm was progressing. Pretty captivating stuff.

Video after the jump. 

(Don’t worry, we shall have our revenge on this murderous ocean.) 

While there’s little doubt that a lot of us East-Coasters are currently comparing scars in relation to Hurricane Sandy Vagina’s rampage through our respective towns (I spent most of my day bailing water out of my car here in Dorchester and my brother’s roof in Upstate NY was completely destroyed, in case you were wondering), if you are able to read this right now then you are likely much better off than UFC middleweight contender Chris Weidman. Because according to Ryan Bader’s Twitter account, Weidman’s New York City home was completely destroyed by the storm today:

Thankfully, no one from Weidman’s family was injured in the incident, which is unfortunately not the case for many families throughout the East coast. We here at CagePotato would like to extend our thoughts and prayers to the Weidman family and every family that is currently struggling to deal with the impact of Sandy, and also thank you readers for checking in on us when many of you probably have a lot more pertinent issues at hand.

Now head over to Chris Weidman’s Twitter and lend him your support, won’t you?

-J. Jones

(Props: AXS TV Fights)

It’s time to admit to ourselves, once and for all, that Anderson Silva isn’t the kind of champion we’d like him to be. After thoroughly conquering the middleweight division, fans assumed that the logical next step for the Greatest UFC Fighter of All Time would be to take more competitive matches against the elite in the light-heavyweight division. Of course, that’s not happening. Silva clearly has an agenda in the final stage of his career, and it doesn’t involve fighting non-superstars, or 205-pound phenoms who actually have a chance of beating him.

As Silva’s manager Ed Soares reiterates in this clip from Inside MMA, Anderson wants to fight UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre next, at a suggested catchweight of 177.5. And after that…well…Michael Bisping, maybe? The idea that Anderson Silva would fight Jon Jones is immediately dismissed by Soares, and the name Chris Weidman — remember him? the UFC’s actual #1 middleweight contender? — isn’t even mentioned.

(Rampage and Bisping might want to start running the things they are about to say out loud by more people than one another)

Let’s just dive right in, nation. UFC middleweight and all around centered and nice guy Michael Bisping recently spoke with MMA Junkie and had some pretty silly things to say. “I’m tired. I know I’ve got to wait my turn, but it’s pissing me off. I want to get my title shot, and if I keep beating guys, they’ll have no choice but to give it to me,” he told Junkie.

“I’m here, and I’m fighting the best guys. I want my shot.”

Bisping has undoubtedly fought some of the best fighters in the world, but he still doesn’t seem to realize that he needs to beat some of them in order to deserve a title shot. At present, ‘The Count’ has a brand new streak of exactly one, count em, one wins.

(The Jon Jones vs. Vitor Belfort staredown from today’s UFC 152 weigh-ins, via YouTube.com/UFC. The Benavidez/Johnson and Bisping/Stann staredowns are after the jump.)

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(I guess we could caption this, but wrestling has a way of sometimes looking funny enough on its own.)

#1 middleweight contender Middleweight Chris Weidman just can’t let Mark Munoz have his own moment. First, Weidman spoiled Munoz’ hopes of earning a title shot. Now, just days after we found out Munoz injured his foot and will be out for some time, and also that his elbow is still jacked up from nasty bone chips, Weidman decided that he needed elbow surgery to remove bone chips as well.

We suppose its possible that Weidman’s elbow surgery is unrelated to sticking it to Munoz. MMA Fighting has the report. “[Weidman] underwent surgery at the Sanford Surgical Tower on his left elbow to clean out bone chips that had developed over time.”

According to the report, Weidman had been dealing with elbow issues for over two years.

(Who ordered the mahi mahi?) 

You’ve gotta feel for Mark Munoz. In the past year, the dude has suffered not only one of the most disgusting elbow injuries on record (see above), but one of the most brutal, not to mention late stoppages of the year at the hands and elbows of Chris Weidman (see below). And he did the latter while rocking one of the goofiest haircuts in MMA history.

And just when you thought that Munoz might be headed down the path of recovery and redemption, it appears that he could be out of action for an entire year to deal with a foot injury he suffered in preparation for the ass kicking he would receive courtesy of Weidman.

Talk about adding injury to insult.

Full story after the jump. 

(Stare at the space directly between them, and slowly move toward your screen. If you do it correctly, you will eventually see the face of Phil Baroni.)

Now that Anderson Silva is “vacationing” until a big fight comes along, Chris Weidman‘s hard-earned #1 middleweight contender spot means jack shit. That’s reality, and there’s nothing Chris can do but exist within it, you know? And so, the undefeated Serra-Longo product will return to the Octagon against another contender, with the hope that he doesn’t get bumped down the ladder.

Multiple outlets are reporting that Weidman will face off against fellow 185-pound bruiser Tim Boetsch at UFC 155 (December 29th, Las Vegas). Weidman is coming off of his insane elbow-KO of Mark Munoz in July, which boosted his UFC record to 5-0. Meanwhile, Boetsch is on an improbable 4-0 run as a middleweight, including an epic comeback TKO against Yushin Okami, and his bizarre split-decision win against Hector Lombard — a “guaranteed slugfest” that turned out to be shockingly dull.

With Vitor Belfort now set to fight Jon Jones at UFC 152, Alan Belcher was left without an opponent for UFC 153 in Rio. Many of us began to speculate as to who the UFC would call in to replace Vitor Belfort in a fight that had possible title implications. Nah, I’m just kidding, we were all way too busy talking about bitchassness, trolling your way into title shots and over-saturation to worry about Alan Belcher. Let’s get back to the real issues of today.

Not so fast. Alan Belcher released a video blog yesterday to discuss the whole Jon Jones saga. Interestingly enough, Belcher first discloses that he won’t be fighting at UFC 153 because he wants to let a back injury he suffered while training heal. In his words:

Rewind a little bit: Three or four weeks back, I had a real bad back problem. I went to the doctor, found out that I had a spinal fracture, so that put me out for three weeks. I didn’t bend my back, I just kept it straight. I’m like “I’m just going to get the rest I need to make this fight happen and push through it.” I was getting back in there training, and it took me a whole week to get my mind wrapped back around it, but I was like “This is a huge fight, I’m going to do it,” and there is no way I was going to back out of that fight. Once I started back and I got going, I put a lot of thought into it and I was going full force ahead.

(Ooooooh this guy just makes me so mad!)

Considering the ongoing feeding frenzy in the middleweight division, MMA fans have been waiting to hear what’s next for UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva. Well hold onto your asses, because the answer is…nothing? With a matchup against #1 contender Chris Weidman officially nixed, the Spider has decided to just chillax until 2013, and then select his next opponent, because that’s what champions do. As Dana White explained:

“Anderson said he wants to take some time off until after the end of this year, [then] we’ll start talking to him. [Chris Weidman] is in a great spot. The kid looked fantastic, demolished the number three guy. Demolished in spectacular fashion. He’s got the right to call out whoever he wants [but] he’s gonna have to wait, or fight [somebody else first], because Anderson’s gonna fight after the end of the year.”

Look Andy, you don’t want to fight Weidman, we get it. In the grand scheme of life, love, and pay-per-view buys, he’s small potatoes. And you think that if you take half a year off, maybe Weidman will have to fight again (and maybe lose), or perhaps he’ll die of natural causes. This is your plan, basically.

(The season three premiere of MMA Inside the Cage, featuring 12 killer knockouts from MMA events across the world, sent in by fans. Check it out and vote for your favorite right here.)

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