Anderson Silva (23-4) will put his 185-pound title on the line against Thales Leites (14-1) at UFC 97 at The Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on April 18, according to InTheGuard.tv .
Silva and Leites were first rumored to be headlining UFC 95 from The O2 Arena in London, England, on February 21 until the "Spider" informed the UFC brass he would not be ready in time.
Fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Leites has rattled off five straight wins inside that Octagon. And that includes a slick rear naked choke over the hard-hitting Drew McFedries at UFC 90 on October 25.
Leites recently made headlines with a controversial split decision win over perennial contender, Nathan Marquardt, at UFC 85: "Bedlam" back in June. His only career loss is to Martin Kampmann in his promotional debut way back in 2006.
He's going to have to find a way to pull off what seems to be an impossible mission in overcoming the champ.
Silva is on an absolute tear … and a devastating one at that. He is on an nine-fight win streak, eight of which have come under the UFC banner. And none of those fights have gone past the second round -- with the exception of his bizarre match against Patrick Cote at UFC 90.
Silva admittedly had trouble finding his riddum in that fight. And despite flashes of his usual brilliance, he seemed content to dance the night away until "The Predator's" knee folded up like Canadian origami.
Prior to that, Silva moved up to light heavyweight and dispatched of James Irvin in round one of their non-title 205-pound bout at UFC Fight Night 14. Silva agreed to temporarily change weight classes in a bid to lure viewers away from the debut effort of Affliction 'Banned' on July 19.
It’s not a stretch to refer to him as the top mixed martial artist on the planet.
UFC 97 will be the second PPV for Zuffa in Montreal since their debut north of the United States border with UFC 83 back in April when UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre avenged his loss to Matt Serra with a two-round demolition of the "The Terror."
One has to imagine if "Rush" can emerge unscathed from his superfight with BJ Penn at UFC 94 on January 31 that he may very well join Silva somewhere on the fight card.
Too bad it can't be against him in the main event.
Stay tuned as more details on UFC 97 become available.