Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White has announced that Anderson Silva is set to get a rematch against new middleweight champion Chris Weidman at UFC 168 with Ronda Rousey defending her women's bantamweight title, in the co-main event, against Miesha Tate.
Silva had originally stated, immediately after his upset defeat at the hands of Weidman, that he was not interested in a rematch though he was not retiring from the sport.
"He hadn't lost in seven or eight years," UFC president Dana White told FOX Sports. "I think once he got home he got fired up again. He's a competitor. It was hard to a imagine a guy like that wouldn't want a rematch."
Weidman went to a 10-0 record, knocking out "The Spider" in the second round at UFC 162 in spectacular fashion, after Silva took a left hook after repeatedly taunting the challenger, letting his guard down.
Silva suffered his first defeat in 17 UFC fights, having successfully defended the middleweight title ten times since beating Rich Franklin for the strap at UFC 64 in 2006.
"He went out and played. It's not the first time he's done this," said White. "He's done it before and he got away with it. Chris Weidman didn't allow it. Chris Weidman kept his composure when [Silva] was messing around with him and Weidman went right after him and ended up knocking him out."
The end-of-year New Year's card, held MGM Grand in Las Vegas, is one of UFC's most popular events on the schedule. Rousey-Tate II was originally slated to be the December 28th UFC 168 main event but has now been pushed back to co-main event status.
Tate, who replaced Cat Zingano after suffering an injury during training, is coaching opposite Rousey on the upcoming season of The Ultimate Fighter, and wants to avenge her lose to Rousey, when both were part of the Strikeforce roster.
"I don't like her," said Rousey. "I want to get it out of the way with Miesha as fast as I can."
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