Report: Anderson Silva vs. Uriah Hall being targeted for UFC 198 in Brazil in May

UFC 198 already has one Anderson on the card, and it appears the company would really like another one for its return to Brazil in May.

A light heavyweight bout between “TUF 19” winner Corey Anderson and former champ Mauricio Rua was added to the slate earlier this week. Now comes a report that the UFC is targeting a middleweight bout between former longtime champ and pound-for-pound Brazilian legend Anderson Silva (33-7 MMA, 16-3 UFC) and Uriah Hall (12-6 MMA, 5-4 UFC). Sherdog recently reported the proposed booking, saying the matchup is likely to be announced in short order by the UFC.

Hall currently is ranked No. 14 in the latest USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA middleweight rankings. After a lengthy run at the top, Silva is an honorable mention selection.

Featuring a heavyweight title fight between champ Fabricio Werdum and top contender Stipe Miocic, UFC 198 takes place May 14 at Arena da Baixada in Curitiba, Parana, Brazil. The main card airs on pay-per-view following preliminary bouts on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

The card also features a middleweight showdown between No. 4-ranked Ronaldo Souza and No. 5 Vitor Belfort, as well as a welterweight tilt between No. 7 Matt Brown and No. 8 Demian Maia, not to mention “Shogun” Rua vs. Anderson and Patrick Cummins vs. another Brazilian fan favorite, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. So it’s crowded at the top of the card – but a Silva fight against Hall certainly would warrant main-card status.

Silva may be in the twilight of his career. He hasn’t won since an October 2012 first-round TKO of Stephan Bonnar, which was a non-title fight at light heavyweight and also the last time he fought in his home country of Brazil. He returned at UFC 162 in July 2013 to put his middleweight title on the line, but was knocked out by Chris Weidman in the second round in a stunning upset.

When he returned in an instant rematch at UFC 168, he suffered a gruesome broken leg when Weidman checked one of Silva’s kicks in the second round. The resulting injury, and TKO loss, put him on the shelf for more than a year. When he returned at UFC 183 against Nick Diaz, he won a unanimous decision – but tested positive for a pair of steroids and was suspended for a year.

His return from that suspension several weeks ago in the main event of UFC Fight Night 84 in London against Michael Bisping didn’t go as planned. Although Silva did plenty of damage to Bisping, “The Count” won a unanimous decision with 48-47 scores on all three judges’ cards in his home country of England, leaving Silva at 0-3 with a no-contest in his past four fights – a far cry from the 17-fight winning streak he carried over a stretch of six and a half years before his first loss to Weidman.

Hall will be looking to get back in the win column after a unanimous decision loss to Robert Whittaker at UFC 193 this past November in Australia. Prior to that, it looked like he was getting on a roll with a first-round TKO win over Oluwale Bamgbose, followed by his first fight-night bonus for a second-round TKO of Gegard Mousasi at UFC Fight Night 75 in Japan this past September. Those two wins gave him five victories in six fights, including four TKO finishes after losing his first two bouts in the promotion by split decision. Of Hall’s four UFC losses, three are by split call.

With the potential addition to the lineup, the UFC 198 card now includes:

• Champ Fabricio Werdum vs. Stipe Miocic – for heavyweight title
• Vitor Belfort vs. Ronaldo Souza
• Matt Brown vs. Demian Maia
• Corey Anderson vs. Mauricio Rua
• Patrick Cummins vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
• Warlley Alves vs. Bryan Barberena
• Yancy Medeiros vs. Francisco Trinaldo
• Nate Marquardt vs. Thiago “Marreta” Santos
• Sergio Moraes vs. Kamaru Usman
• Renato Moicano vs. Zubaira Tukhugov
• Uriah Hall vs. Anderson Silva

For more on UFC 198 and UFC 199, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.