UFC NEWS: Thiago Silva says fight with Rampage Jackson at UFC 130 still on despite reports

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

If Rashad Evans is meeting Quinton "Rampage" Jackson at UFC 130, someone forgot to tell Rampage's already scheduled opponent, Thiago Silva.

Though MMAWeekly.com reported this afternoon that Evans was replacing Silva, Silva himself told Tatame.com that the reports were not true, and he's still planning on facing Rampage in May.

"Injured? Me?" Silva asked. "I'm very healthy and looking forward to fighting Rampage. That's not true."

"Nobody called us about anything, the fight is [still] scheduled, yes."

Link to Tatame.com report

Penick's Analysis: If the UFC is pulling Silva out of this fight for a more marquee matchup in Evans-Rampage 2, they probably should have informed Silva of that first. Right now there is some confusion as to what's going on here, but the UFC could have decided with Evans pushed back for a return and being taken out of his title fight with Shogun that this made more sense from a monetary standpoint. Still, Silva-Rampage is a great matchup in and of itself, and it's unfortunate if they just took him out of this fight and changed plans without even letting him know.

[Thiago Silva art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_8404.shtml

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