There's a battle of big-hitting brawlers currently under consideration for UFC 117 as Thiago Silva will reportedly return to action against Tim Boetsch on Aug. 7 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., according to Sherdog.com.
Silva was last seen duking it out with "Sugar" Rashad Evans in the UFC 108 main event earlier this year. Despite having the former light heavyweight champion on rubber legs towards the end of the fight, the exhausted Brazilian could not capitalize and came up on the wrong end of a unanimous decision for just his second loss since joining the UFC in 2007.
Outside of Evans and current champion Lyoto Machida, Silva is 5-0 inside the Octagon, with TKO wins over Keith Jardine, Houston Alexander and James Irvin.
Hoping to spoil his climb back to the top will be Boetsch, who hasn't been employed inside the Zuffa cage since a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Jason Brilz at UFC 96 back in March 2009.
"The Barbarian" made good use of his time away from the UFC, competing on the regional circuit and racking up three straight wins (with three finishes). Like Silva, Boetsch has lights-out power and makes no bones about throwing leather from bell to bell.
Don't expect this one to make it out of the first round.
UFC 117 is likely to feature the put-up-or-shut-up middleweight title fight between Chael Sonnen and Anderson Silva while Thiago Alves seeks revenge on longtime nemesis Jon Fitch.
Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for future updates on this still-developing fight card.
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