Anderson Silva vs. Israel Adesanya In the Works for UFC 234 in Australia

A middleweight showdown between legendary former champion Anderson Silva and fast rising star Israel Adesanya is headed to UFC 234 in Australia on Feb. 9.

UFC president Dana White confirmed the fight to ESPN on Saturday although no bout agreements for the fight have been signed yet.

Assuming the fight is made official, Silva will look to stop Adesanya’s rapid rise up the ranks after he’s pulled off four straight wins in the UFC including a blistering first round finish against Derek Brunson in his most recent fight.

Adesanya has quickly become one of the most talked about fighters on the UFC roster while pulling off three ‘Performance of the Night’ awards in his first four fights.

Meanwhile, Silva will look to reignite his career after last fighting in early 2017 when he earned a close decision — also against Brunson — at UFC 208.

Silva sat out most of 2018 due to a one-year suspension he received from USADA after testing positive for a banned substance in 2017. While Silva was exonerated of knowingly taking a banned substance due to a contaminated product, he still faced a stiff penalty because he had previously been suspended for a separate drug test failure in 2015.

Now the Brazilian icon will attempt to pull off a win against one of the most dazzling middleweights in the sport today as Silva and Adesanya join the UFC 234 card in Australia that already features a title fight at 185 pounds between champion Robert Whittaker and challenger Kelvin Gastelum.