Coming. Up. Next.
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will look to establish the next great welterweight contender when it throws Matt Brown and Erick Silva into the cage for a 170-pound slugfest at the UFC Fight Night 44 event inside U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio, on May 10, 2014, scheduled to air on FOX Sports 1 and Fight Pass.
I don't think we'll be needing the judges for this one.
Brown (18-11) is holding steady at No. 7 in the official UFC rankings (see them here), winning his last six fights and finishing five of them by way of knockout or technical knockout. But the "Immortal" Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 7 standout has been on the injured reserves for over eight months due to a bad back.
Will cage rust play a factor in "The Queen City?"
Silva (16-4) got back into the win column earlier this year by pounding out Takenori Sato in Brazil. Once touted as the future of the division, "Indio" now has the opportunity to win two in a row for the first time since stepping foot inside the Octagon in late 2011, though that's likely to be easier said than done against a maniac like Brown.
We'll have our answer in less than two weeks.
In addition to "Brown vs. Silva," UFC Fight Night 40 will feature a co-main event pitting Strikeforce import Lorenz Larkin against venerable middleweight striker Costas Philippou, while Ed Herman vs. Rafael Natal and Manny Gamburyan vs. Nik Lentz also see action.
For the entire UFC Fight Night 40 fight card and line up click here.