Heavyweights ‘Big Country’ Nelson, ‘Bigfoot’ Silva Agree to UFC 146 Clash

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Antonio Silva will make his anticipated Octagon debut at UFC 146, promotion officials announced on Wednesday, as “Bigfoot” and Roy Nelson have verbally agreed to square off on Memorial Day Weekend.

Headlined by a heavyweight title showdown between Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, the May 26 event takes place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

The former EliteXC heavyweight champion, Silva, 32, recently had a three-fight winning streak halted by Daniel Cormier in the Strikeforce heavyweight grand prix semifinals. Prior to his knockout loss to the American Kickboxing Academy standout, the Brazilian posted successive Strikeforce victories over Andrei Arlovski, Mike Kyle and Fedor Emelianenko.

Known for his toughness and determination in the cage, Nelson has dropped three of his last four fights after beginning his UFC career 2-0. Following decision losses to former UFC champions dos Santos and Frank Mir, Nelson responded with a technical knockout of former Pride Fighting Championships standout Mirko Filipovic this past October. Most recently, however, “Big Country” was outpointed by Fabricio Werdum on Feb. 4, sustaining heavy damage in his UFC 143 defeat to “Vai Cavalo.”