The Bay Area no longer has a champion in regards to the highest levels of mixed martial arts - Nick Diaz and Jake Shields both vacated their Strikeforce titles to come to the UFC, and both have failed to win gold in the bigger of the two big organizations, while Cain Velasquez lost the Heavyweight Championship in his most recent fight, a knockout loss at the hands of Junior dos Santos.
Velasquez was set to get back on the horse with his first fight back against tough veteran Frank Mir, but that fight is now off, with Mir set to take on dos Santos for the title with Alistair Overeem being taken from the fight after failing a pre-fight test. It was revealed that Overeem had failed a pre-fight test that saw him with elevated testosterone levels (or rather, skewed ratios).
On Sunday, UFC President Dana White confirmed on Twitter that Velasquez would remain on the card though - against Antonio Silva, who is making his return to the UFC after a stint in Strikeforce. It was a notable stint for "Bigfoot," who had a strong victory over Fedor Emelianenko, in which he dominated the Russian legend en route to a TKO stoppage.
But facing Velasquez is a tough return to the big show for anybody. Silva will have his hands full, while Velasquez should be the heavy favorite to get back in the win column and start his run back to the top. The biggest issue for him is ... well, just how big Silva is. As Velasquez is primarily a wrestler, it will be interesting to see how he handles the giant mass of man that is "Bigfoot."