Anderson Silva vs Chris Weidman official for UFC 162 headliner on July 6 in Las Vegas

Patience truly is a virtue.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) today (March 6, 2013) officially announced a middleweight title fight pitting champion Anderson Silva against challenger Chris Weidman, set for UFC 162 in Las Vegas, Nevada on July 6 later this summer.

According to the report from Newsday, Weidman was told by UFC chief executive Lorenzo Fertitta earlier today that Silva had finally agreed to the bout.

Silva (33-4) is coming off a dominant first round technical knockout (TKO) of Ultimate Fighter season one finalist Stephan Bonnar at UFC 153, putting an end to "The American Psycho's" three-fight winning streak and perhaps his career. All this despite fighting outside of his weight class in the light heavyweight division plus having his opponent popped for steroids in his post-fight drug screening.

"The Spider" last defended his title at UFC 148 against Chael Sonnen with a violent second round TKO over his heated rival in what was the promotion's biggest pay-per-view (PPV) seller in years.

Weidman (9-0) is a former All-American wrestler out of Hofstra and has remained unbeaten in his mixed martial arts career, earning his title shot by knocking off former title challenger Demian Maia and then obliterating top contender Mark Munoz via violent second round knockout. He was set to fight Tim Boetsch at UFC 155, but a torn labrum has kept him sidelined for the last three months.

The Long Island-native has been calling out Silva for over half a year now but was met with considerable resistance from the champion who called him "a kid." The title fight appears to have fallen into his lap after a host of top contenders all dropped the ball with Michael Bisping, Alan Belcher, Hector Lombard and Tim Boetsch all losing their last bouts respectively.

Stay tuned to MMAmania.com for more details on UFC 162 as they become available.