Dana White announces Anderson Silva vs. Derek Brunson for UFC 208

The UFC’s first ever show at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York will feature MMA’s greatest middleweight of all-time. UFC president Dana White announced on Friday that the legendary Anderson Silva will take on top-10 ranked Derek Brunson at UFC 208 on Saturday, February 11th.

Silva (33-8, 1 NC) fought twice in 2016, losing a dramatic unanimous decision to current middleweight champion Michael Bisping, then losing a not-so-dramatic unanimous decision to current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier. The Cormier fight was taken on two days notice, as Silva replaced Jon Jones following his failed USADA test. When you factor in the no contest that “The Spider” had vs. Nick Diaz (due to his own failed drug tests, which netted him a one-year suspension), the 41-year-old Silva has not officially won a fight since his 1st round TKO of Stephan Bonnar in October 2012.

Brunson (16-4) is coming off a thrilling but devastating 1st round knockout loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC Melbourne in November. He had previously won his last five fights, with four of them ending in opening round (T)KOs, including against Uriah Hall, Roan Carneiro, Sam Alvey, and Ed Herman. Brunson’s only other loss inside the Octagon is by 3rd round TKO to Yoel Romero.

In terms of the UFC rankings, Silva is still #7 despite his long stretch without a win, while Brunson is right behind him at #8.

The UFC 208 pay-per-view main card is headlined by the inaugural women’s featherweight championship bout between former UFC 135 lbs champion Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie.