Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva Replaces Frank Mir, Faces Cain Velasquez at UFC 146

---

Two days after announcing that Frank Mir has been tapped to replace Alistair Overeem in the main event of UFC 146, Dana White has confirmed another major shift on the May 26 card.

With Mir now slated to go against UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos, the UFC president announced Sunday that Mir’s original opponent, Cain Velasquez, will take on former Strikeforce competitor Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

“Don’t believe any of the BS you read on the internet,” White wrote on Twitter. “Cain is fighting Bigfoot Silva May 26th in Vegas.”

While not yet officially announced by the promotion, the Velasquez-Silva tilt will likely serve as the co-main event for the pay-per-view, which takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. It is currently unknown whether Silva’s original opponent, Roy Nelson, will remain on the card.

Velasquez, 29, will look to correct his course following the first defeat of his fighting career. The American Kickboxing Academy standout racked up nine straight wins, including first-round knockouts of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Brock Lesnar, before being clobbered by dos Santos in just 64 seconds last November.

A Brazilian native now fighting out of Florida’s American Top Team, 32-year-old Silva also looks to get back on track after being wiped from Strikeforce’s 2011 heavyweight grand prix by Daniel Cormier. Prior to the loss, Silva had won three in a row and became only the third man to defeat Russian great Fedor Emelianenko in their February 2011 bout.