UFC 200: How Anderson Silva agreed to fight Daniel Cormier

LAS VEGAS —— Wednesday night, MMA manager Ed Soares was lying on his couch in his Las Vegas hotel room. News broke that Jon Jones’ potential anti-doping violation had derailed the light heavyweight title fight with champion Daniel Cormier.

UFC 200 was suddenly without a main event. And Cormier, after months of training, was without a fight.

Soares called Glover Teixeira, his third-ranked light heavyweight, about filling in on short notice. Teixeira said he couldn’t make the 205-pound weight limit.

Soares figured he had tried. It was worth a shot.

Then he got a text message from one of his other fighters — MMA legend and former middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

“I’ll fight,” it read.

Twenty-three hours later, it was aounced Silva would step up and take on Cormier on the main card of UFC 200.

Soares, a lifelong Redondo Beach resident, detailed to the Southe Califoia News Group how it went Wednesday night and all day Thursday before the fight was made official, which UFC President Dana White said came to fruition at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“Anything can happen in this sport. (Michael) Bisping knocked out (middleweight champion Luke) Rockhold on 11 days’ notice,” White said at a Thursday night press conference with Silva.

“I think it’s an interesting, fun fight. Anderson Silva is undefeated at 205.”

Which is true — Silva (33-7, 1 NC) is 3-0 in the UFC at 205 pounds, for which he said he doesn’t have to cut any weight.

It was whirlwind of several texts and calls with Soares as the conduit between Silva and White. Surprisingly, the size of Silva’s paycheck was not as big an obstacle as the length of Silva’s fight.

After receiving that initial text from Silva, a quick call confirmed it. Silva, just seven weeks removed from having his gall bladder removed, was willing on three day’s notice to take on the 205-pound champion.

Soares texted White to let him know.

“Dana called me right back and said, ‘Are you (freaking) serious?’ I said, ‘From what it sounds like, it was serious. I’ll confirm. Will you give him the fight?” Soares said.

“Yes. Check,’ White replied.

After that, there was one major holdup: how many rounds?

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The UFC wanted the fight to be a five-rounder for the title. Silva, who understandably hasn’t been doing much training while recovering from surgery, wasn’t interested in a possible 25-minute fight.

“If he goes out and knocks the guy out in two rounds, I don’t really give a (crap) about the ... belt. He ... beat the champ,” Soares said. “With that being said, he wants to fight three rounds. If he’s goa feel more confident going in knowing he has to fight only 15 minutes, I’d rather see a more confident Anderson versus one that’s goa have to hold back.”

The two sides couldn’t agree on the rounds. White told Soares they had other potential replacements — which was revealed Thursday night to be No. 8-ranked middleweight Gegard Mousasi and 13th-ranked MMA legend Dan Henderson.

White called back Thursday moing and said they needed to pull the trigger on the fight. Soares and Silva refused to budge.

Soares said five minutes later, White called back again. If they agreed to three rounds, would Silva really take the fight?

Soares called Silva, who was already in the car on his way to Nevada for promotional responsibilities.

“I was coming to Vegas anyway. I came with my kids,” Silva said at the Thursday night press conference. “We’re goa go to the mall, get some ice cream and hang out.”

Silva ended up giving the fight his blessing.

“He drove into town, I picked him up, we went to the hospital, ran all his tests, and here we are,” Soares said

Silva was all smiles at the press conference, joking he’d have to run from Cormier.

He does see it, however, as a golden opportunity.

“I wanted to be fighting in my own weight class for the belt, but this is a great challenge for me,” he said..

Soares see it as another chapter in the grand legacy of Anderson Silva, whom he believes has nothing to lose.

“I said, ‘Anderson, I want you to do it if you want to do it. Do the five rounds? We’ll do the five rounds,’” he said. “’My first conce is you and how you’re feeling and your well being and your health. Everything else is secondary and I just want you to know whatever decision you do, I’m behind you 100 percent.

“That’s how it went down.”