Gegard Mousasi Willing to Fight Anderson Silva at UFC 199 or UFC 200

While Anderson Silva is seeking a fight on the UFC 198 card in Curitiba, Brazil, it appears that Gegard Mousasi won’t be one of his options for the May 14 event.

Rogerio Camoes, Silva’s trainer, told Sherdog.com on Tuesday that “The Spider” was negotiating with the promotion to fight at UFC 198 and that Mousasi or Tim Kennedy could be targeted as potential opponents.

Mousasi, who has been angling for a fight with Silva in recent weeks, squashed the notion that he would be able to face the former middleweight champion at UFC 198. Instead, Mousasi’s manager, Nima Safapour, released a statement on Wednesday saying that his fighter would be willing to face Silva at either UFC 199 on June 4 or UFC 200 on July 9.

"The Curitiba card is right around the corner. Therefore, we need adequate time to put the camp together and prepare. We would gladly fight Anderson. However, a May date is too soon of a return. Had we known immediately after the London card then maybe,” the statement read. “But that time has passed us, unfortunately. We will take the fight gladly. However, I think it would make more sense to have them fight either at UFC 199 in L.A. at the earliest, or alternatively, at UFC 200 in Vegas at the latest. Gegard wants to have the fastest turnaround possible while not comprising the organization and structure of his training camp. So the question should go back directly to Anderson on whether he accepts our challenge at either UFC 199 or UFC 200."

Mousasi is coming off a unanimous decision triumph over Thales Leites at UFC Fight Night London on Feb. 27. Silva, competing for the first time in more than a year, dropped a five-round verdict to Michael Bisping in that card’s main event.

Marcelo Alonso contributed to this report