Anderson Silva vs. Jared Cannonier Booked For UFC 237

Anderson Silva’s wish has been granted.

UFC 237 is set to take place inside the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Brazil on May 11. After Silva’s unanimous decision loss to Israel Adesanya at UFC 234, “The Spider” expressed his desire to compete on the UFC 237 card. Permission granted.

ESPN’s Brett Okamoto revealed that Silva will collide with Jared Cannonier:

Breaking: Anderson Silva (34-9) will face Jared Cannonier (11-4) at UFC 237 on May 11 in Brazil, per UFC president Dana White. Silva just dropped a decision to Israel Adesanya in the main event of UFC 234 earlier this month, and said he wanted to be on the Brazil card.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) February 20, 2019

Silva has gone 1-5, 1 NC in his last seven outings. Despite being past his prime, Silva showed that he’s still capable of competing with his performance against Adesanya. With the home country crowd behind him, Silva may get the extra boost he needs to turn back the clock.

Cannonier turned a lot of heads with his recent outing. “Killa Gorilla” clashed with David Branch at UFC 230 back in November. Cannonier was surprisingly dominant in the bout and scored a second-round TKO. The victory snapped Cannonier’s two-fight skid.

UFC 237 will feature a strawweight title bout between champion Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade. Light heavyweight veteran Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will collide with Ryan Spann. Bethe Correia is also expected to take on Irene Aldana.