Many fans were left wondering what the UFC was planning for their fifth FX event, which was originally scheduled to take place in Indianapolis on September 7th. With few bouts booked even just two months before the event, the promotion decided to scrap the card altogether and move it to another location. Now we have confirmation from USA Today Sports that the event will remain in the midwest, as it’s headed to the Target Center in Minneapolis on October 5th with a heavyweight main event featuring Travis Browne vs. Antonio Silva:
Heavyweights Travis Browne and Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva will headline the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Minnesota in October. USA TODAY Sports on Thursday learned from UFC officials that Browne will fight Silva on Oct. 5 in the main event of UFC on FX 5, which will take place at the Target Center in Minneapolis.
Browne, one of the heavyweight division’s brightest prospects, was scheduled to be facing Ben Rothwell at next week’s UFC on FOX 4 event in Los Angeles, but an injury to Rothwell forced the UFC to remove Browne altogether from the card, and he’s instead been upgraded to headliner status. The Hawaiian big man has run roughshod over the UFC’s heavyweight ranks, maintaining his undefeated status and racking up a 4-0-1 record in the Octagon.
Silva, was at one time one of the most highly-regarded heavyweights outside the UFC and although a deal with Strikeforce brought him under the Zuffa umbrella, a knockout loss to Daniel Cormier in that promotion followed by a brutal TKO loss to Cain Velasquez in his UFC debut, put a damper on some of the hype around “Bigfoot”. Nonetheless, Silva is still a very dangerous fighter and will provide a serious test for Browne.
The UFC’s last event in Minneapolis was UFC 87 in August of 2008. The only other fight that was announced for the FX 5 card was a featherweight scrap between Bart Palaszewski and Diego Nunes, and it’s expected, but not yet confirmed that those two will be shifted to the Minneapolis card.