Anderson Silva vs. Jared Cannonier booked for UFC 237 in Brazil

Following a solid showing in Australia, legend Anderson Silva said he wanted to be on the card when the UFC returned to his native Brazil. It looks like he’ll get his wish.

Silva (34-8 MMA, 17-5 UFC) will take on Jared Cannonier (11-4 MMA, 4-4 UFC) in a middleweight fight at UFC 237 in May, UFC President Dana White today told ESPN.com.

UFC 237 takes place May 11 in Brazil, though the promotion has yet to announce a city and venue. Previous reports of Curitiba reportedly are no longer accurate, and the event likely will take place in Rio de Janeiro. The main card airs on pay-per-view following prelims on ESPN and UFC Fight Pass.

Silva fought Israel Adesanya earlier this month in what wound up being the UFC 234 main event in Australia. He dropped a unanimous decision in a “Fight of the Night” winner over three rounds. The bout was booked as the co-main event, but was elevated when middleweight champion Robert Whittaker was pulled from his title defense against Kelvin Gastelum the day of the fight. Adesanya’s win got him an interim middleweight title fight against Gastelum at UFC 236 in April.

Silva has not fought in his home country since a UFC 153 win over Stephan Bonnar in October 2012. His next time out, he lost the middleweight title to Chris Weidman, which set off his current 1-5 skid.

Cannonier got back on track this past November with a bonus-winning TKO of David Branch at UFC 230. That win snapped a two-fight skid that saw him drop a decision to Jan Blachowicz and suffer a TKO loss to Dominick Reyes.

The UFC 237 lineup now includes:

• Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade – for strawweight title
• Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Spann
• Jared Cannonier vs. Anderson Silva

For more on UFC 237, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.