When a car hit Jose Aldo, knocking him out of the main event vs. Frankie Edgar at UFC 153, UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva stepped up on short notice. UFC 152, which is scheduled for Oct. 13, 2012 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, needs a major Brazilian star as a headliner. With that secured, the search was on for an opponent.
Stephan Bonnar stepped up, but many fans questioned whether it made sense.
In an interview with Silva’s manager Ed Soares, he explained that it doesn’t matter if it makes sense – in this life, sometimes you play the hand that is dealt you.
“I think it was just a matter of who was available at 205,” said Soares. “We kind of went through a process of elimination. There were only a certain number of opponents willing to take the fight and Stephan ended being the one that stuck.
“Stephan is a warrior. People can say what they want, does he deserve it, it’s really irrelevant. We were trying to find a solution to a problem and Stephan Bonnar stepped up and took the fight.
“No one can underestimate what Stephan’s done. The guy’s constantly moving forward, he’s not an easy guy to finish. It’s going to be an action-packed fight, for sure.”
