Report: Wanderlei Silva Says UFC Is Asking Him to Fight Gegard Mousasi

Update: It turns out that Wanderlei Silva had the MMA community fooled, stating on Twitter than his claims were all an April Fools' Day joke.

"

I catch you wand the best April first ever!! But I would like this to be true!!! O melhor primeiro de… instagram.com/p/Xmr70Dkq4A/ — Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) April 2, 2013

"

Update: MMA Fighting's Ariel Helwani is relaying the following message from UFC president Dana White, who says that Alexander Gustafsson vs. Gegard Mousasi is still slated as the main event.

"

"Gus is still fighting! It's April fools. Stay of twitter and the net today!"

"

That directly conflicts with Wanderlei Silva's last Twitter message, which still suggests that he is set to replace Gustafasson.

---

Reports continue to suggest that UFC light heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson won't be medically cleared to fight Gegard Mousasi at UFC on Fuel 9 in Sweden—and Wanderlei Silva may be stepping in to save the day.

According to a recent post on Silva's official Twitter feed, the UFC has approached the PRIDE FC veteran about stepping in to face Mousasi on less than a week's notice:

"

UFC news my guys fight Saturday agains Musasi!!! What you think? UFC just contact me about Saturday,UFC acabeu de me ligar o que acha? — Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) April 1, 2013

"

"

I am read I don't have any injure and training a lot,to treinadinho e sem lesao nenhuma!!! — Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) April 1, 2013

"

That kind of turnaround would essentially leave Silva with no time to prepare for his opponent, although Silva is stating that he is uninjured and currently in the middle of training.

It's very hard to believe that Silva is 100 percent healthy, as his most recent Octagon outing saw him endure a hellacious back-and-forth brawl with Brian Stann during the main event of UFC on Fuel 8 in Japan's Saitama Super Arena.

However, no mandatory medical suspensions were announced after the event, since Japan has no main athletic commission (leaving the UFC to act as its own enforcer).

This would also mark Silva's second consecutive fight in his usual weight class, as "The Axe Murderer" recently did a stint in the middleweight division at 185 pounds.

(Silva has also fought in two catchweight bouts.)

Moreover, the aging MMA legend has had a remarkably uneven track record since joining the UFC, as Silva currently hosts a 4-5 record in the promotion, not counting his two previous UFC losses to Tito Ortiz in 2000 and Vitor Belfort in 1998.

---

McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania & The LA Times.