UFC: Wanderlei Silva vs Brian Stann Now Official for UFC 130

The fight card for UFC 130 in May 2011 is coming together as another fight was inked today featuring middleweight contenders Brian Stann and Wanderlei Silva. The event itself will take place at the MGM Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

Stann earned the fight with Silva by knocking out perennial middleweight contender Chris Leben at UFC 125: Resolution in December.

Leben had been working toward a fight with Silva on his path back to the top of the UFC middleweight rankings, but it was Stann who beat the odds and defeated "The Crippler" in spectacular fashion, becoming just the second man to ever knock Leben out.

Stann now looks to move closer to a title shot by adding Silva to his resume.

Silva himself had been on a 2-fight losing streak prior to a big win over Britain’s Michael Bisping back at UFC 110. The win put him at 2-3 in the UFC and was his first appearance at 185 pounds in The Octagon.

Always one of the fan favorites, Silva now holds a career record of 33-10-1 and has faced many of the top fighters in the world over the past decade. At 34 years old, though, there is growing concern he may be on his final push to make it back to the top of the MMA mountain.

A win by either man in this contest could put them perhaps one fight away from a shot at the UFC middleweight championship and a date with the winner of this weekend’s showdown between champion Anderson Silva and challenger Vitor Belfort.

With adding this fight, the UFC 130 card now looks to be really coming together as one of the best shows the company has ever put on.

The current fight card includes:

UFC Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson vs. Thiago Silva
Frank Mir vs. Roy Nelson
Thiago Alves vs. Rick Story
Travis Browne vs. Stefan Struve