Silva vs. Gastelum at UFC 212 in Rio

Lions sometimes eat their young. The UFC is eating its old.

The greatest fighter in league history, Anderson Silva, will fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 212 in Rio de Janiero. Silva is 41 years old, Gastelum 25. The news was broken by Combate’s Ana Hissa and was confirmed by the UFC not long afterward.

Ask and you shall receive! @KelvinGastelum gets wish, faces @SpiderAnderson at #UFC212 in 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! pic.twitter.com/jJcIaM5E6e

— UFC (@ufc) March 14, 2017

Gastelum beat Vitor Belfort, 39, on Saturday at UFC Fight Night 106: Belfort vs. Gastelum and called out Silva. As the UFC tweet gleefully notes, he got his wish. In the fight before that, Gastelum beat Tim Kennedy, 37, who promptly retired. Before that Gastelum beat Johny Hendricks, 33.

While Bellator MMA is getting big ratings with older fighters, the UFC appears intent on a longer play – building up new stars by breaking old ones. In his last fight Yair Rodriguez, 24, crushed BJ Penn, 38, and next faces Frankie Edgar, 35.

Silva is 1-4 with one No Contest since 2012.

UFC 212
June 3, 2017
Jeunesse Arena
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Jose Aldo vs. Max Holloway
Anderson Silva vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Claudia Gadelha vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Johnny Eduardo vs. Matthew Lopez
Marco Beltran vs. Deiveson Alcantara
Antonio Carlos Junior vs. Eric Spicely