(Reuters) – Brazilian Anderson Silva will replace interim UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in Saturday’s bout against title holder Daniel Cormier in Las Vegas, the Ultimate Fighting Championship said. The bout will be a three-round non-title light heavyweight fight, while the heavyweight fight between Brock Lesnar and Mark Hunt will be the main event at UFC 200.
Jones was pulled from his bout having tested positive in an out-of-competition sample collection by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on June 16.
“I’ve gone through a lot of phases in my UFC career, and no one’s been able to beat everything that I’ve done,” Silva told the mixed martial arts promotion company’s website (www.ufc.com). “So I really feel like I’m a blessed guy. I’m just very happy to be able to come in and face a guy like Daniel Cormier.”
(Reporting by Ian Rodricks in Bengaluru; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
Reuters
