Yushin Okami will receive the middleweight title shot he earned last year after all.UFC president Dana White confirmed with USA Today on Wednesday that UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva will defend his title against Okami on Aug. 27 in Rio de Janiero. The news was first reported by Tatame.com.
Okami (26-5) earned the shot to fight Silva (28-4) at UFC 122 when he defeated Nate Marquardt. However, following Silva's win over Vitor Belfort in February, White indicated that Okami might have to wait while Georges St-Pierre fought Silva first.
Since then, White has often called Silva vs. GSP a "dream fight," reminding everyone that GSP had to first defeat Jake Shields at UFC 129, but apparently the UFC decided to not wait for the outcome of this month's welterweight title fight before booking Silva's next fight.
This news doesn't necessarily rule out the possibility of seeing Silva fight St-Pierre in the future, as GSP always said that he would need more time to add weight if he moved up to 185 pounds.
Okami defeated Silva via disqualification at Rumble on the Rock 8 in 2006 when Silva landed an illegal upkick in the first round.
Since then, Silva has reeled off 14 straight wins, while Okami has 12-3 over the same period of time.
The Aug. 27 event in Brazil will mark the UFC's second in the country. The first took place in October 1998.
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