Thiago Silva Vs. Ovince St. Preux Booked For UFC 171

Thiago Silva and Ovince St. Preux will face off in a light heavyweight bout at UFC 171 in March.

Silva and St. Preux were originally scheduled to meet in the co-main event of UFC Fight Night 35 in Atlanta next month, but less than 24 hours after announcing the match, the promotion said Silva had been pulled from the fight for undisclosed reasons. The 31-year-old Brazilian is coming off back-to-back wins against Rafael Cavalcante at UFC on Fuel TV: Nogueira vs. Werdum in June and Matt Hamill at UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Shields in October.

St. Preux made his promotional debut at UFC 159 in April, defeating Gian Villante by a majority technical decision after he accidentally poked his opponent in the right eye with his thumb in the third round. Referee Kevin Mulhall stopped the fight after asking Villante if he could see, and the match was sent to the judges’ scorecards. The 30-year-old had better luck in his next fight against Cody Donovan at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Sonnen in August, knocking him out in the first round.

Joining Thiago Silva and Ovince St. Preux on the UFC 171 card are The Ultimate Fighter 17 castmates Tor Troeng and Robert McDaniel, who will face off in a light heavyweight bout. Both McDaniel and Troeng are 1-1 since making their UFC debuts in April. McDaniel defeated Gilbert Smith by triangle armbar in the third round of the TUF finale, but lost to Brad Tavares by unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann 2 in August.

Troeng defeated Adam Cella by rear naked choke in the first round at UFC on Fuel 9. He dropped his first match in almost three years to Rafael Natal at UFC Fight Night 28 in September, with Natal winning the match by unanimous decision.

UFC 171 will also feature Jake Shields vs. Hector Lombard in a welterweight match, and Jon Jones vs. Glover Teixeira in a light heavyweight title bout in the main event.