Surprise, surprise.
“Ever since the fight got over, I don’t know if there’s ever been any more hype, ever, in UFC history after a fight,” White said on “SportsCenter.” “Everybody has been wondering if there will be a rematch. I’ve been working on it since Thursday.
“Dec. 28 in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand, Anderson Silva will fight Chris Weidman in the rematch. The co-main event will be Ronda Rousey versus Miesha Tate.” (Via ESPN)
I’m not complaining, of course. I want to see this rematch as much as anyone else, but geez, way to kill the suspense so quickly. I’m actually pretty surprised that they didn’t dance around the announcement of this rematch from UFC 162 and hype it up some more by letting Chris Weidman talk some trash at UFC 163 or the UFC on Fox Sports 1 debut on August 17.
That way, Dana White could have let Weidman come out before the main event to call out Silva, who would then make his way to the octagon to accept the challenge and announce that he won’t, in fact, just seek out some circus sideshow “superfights” that aren’t actually superfights. Then Chael Sonnen could come out and shout something like, “Hey, you guys can have your fight on December 28, but tonight I’m the main event, and I’m the one these people paid to see win.”
And then Mauricio Rua will beat him in the first round. Just kidding. (But maybe.)
As for Weidman-Silva II, it wasn’t very difficult at all for White to book it.
“Yeah guys, my fans, UFC and my fans [throughout] the world and in the United States, Dec. 28, I coming back to fight: Weidman and Anderson Silva. I back. Trust me, I back,” Silva told ESPN.
And let the hype machine commence.
“Anderson Silva is motivated, fired up and wants the belt back,” White said. “I expect a totally different fight. I don’t think he is going to come out and taunt [Weidman].
“He went out and played. It’s not the first time he’s done this. He’s done it before and he got away with it. Chris Weidman didn’t allow it. Chris Weidman kept his composure when [Silva] was messing around with him and Weidman went right after him and ended up knocking him out.”
I’m predicting that White might actually even admit that a UFC PPV had 1 million buys this time.
