Director explains Anderson’s absence from UFC Curitiba: ‘It’s difficult to find an opponent’

Anderson (photo) was left out of the Curitiba card. Photo: Josh Hedges/UFC

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UFC 198, on May 14th, will be the biggest event ever held by Ultimate in Brazil, with the first edition of the fight show to take place in a football stadium in the country. However, the grand attraction at Arena da Baixada, in Curitiba (PR), will not feature one of the biggest Brazilian UFC stars, Anderson Silva. According to Giovani Decker, director of Ultimate in Brazil, Anderson's absence has a very simple explanation: the lack of opponents.

In an interview with the “Na Grade do MMA” podcast, Decker revealed that he was unable to find an opponent for “Spider” in Curitiba. “The issue is that it is very difficult to find an opponent for Anderson. Not everyone wants to face our top fighters, in a packed football stadium shouting 'uh, you're going to die'. It's not easy. That's the main question. Most of the top middleweight fighters have fights scheduled, so there aren’t many people,” he commented.

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The main attraction of the event will be a duel between Fabricio Werdum e Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight belt and, in the second most important fight of the night, the Brazilian clash between Vitor belfort e Ronaldo Jacare.