UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva will defend his division title against 185-pound number one contender Yushin Okami at the upcoming UFC 134: "Rio" pay-per-view event from the HSBC Arena on Aug. 27 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
And both fighters believe they have some unfinished business inside the Octagon.
That's because Silva and Okami first met inside a cage back in 2006, with "Thunder" scoring a controversial win over "The Spider" via disqualification (illegal upkick). Silva has not lost since, winning an astonishing 14 straight fights and cementing himself as among (if not the) best mixed martial artists in the world along the way.
This will mark a record ninth time (and counting) Silva will defend his middleweight title inside the Octagon.
An impressive streak, no question, and one Okami tells reporters during yesterday's media conference call that he intends to break en route to capturing the 185-pound title.
"I am prepared to be the UFC middleweight champion. I'm gonna prove myself in this fight. I will break his streak. Ever since I started in the UFC, he has been the champion. I've always wanted to take the belt from him. The UFC championship has been waiting for me. I believe that I am stronger than him and I will take full advantage of it. I have been fighting in the middleweight division for a long time. I am very confident. I am ready to fight Anderson Silva."Okami, meanwhile, has built an impressive UFC resume of his own, winning 10 of his 12 fights with the promotion, the most recent of which, over Nate Marquardt in Germany, earned him a long-awaited shot at the middleweight crown.
The Japanese import now finally gets his chance to become the first man to defeat the Brazilian within the not-so-friendly confines of the eight-sided playground ... in hostile territory no less.
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