The Ultimate Fighting Championship has fined middleweight titleholder Anderson Silva$50,000 for refusing to take part in a planned pre-UFC 162 media event.

Silva (33-4 MMA, 16-0 UFC) was scheduled to talk with a few of Los Angeles' largest media outlets on Tuesday but ultimately skipped the session and instead flew home to his native Brazil.

"We had a full media day set up for him in Los Angeles, and he just decided he didn't want to do it, so he's being fined $50,000," UFC President Dana White told USA TODAY Sports and MMAjunkie.com(www.mmajunkie.com).

The media session was scheduled to coincide with this week's ticket on-sale date for "UFC 162: Silva vs. Weidman," in which Silva looks to defend his belt against Chris Weidman (9-0 MMA, 5-0 UFC). The pay-per-view event takes place July 6 at Las Vegas' MGM Grand Garden Arena. The annual Fourth of July weekend fight card is considered one of the promotion's cornerstone events and comes complete with a two-day UFC Fan Expo and a full slate of fan-driven activities.

"He doesn't like talking to the media, but it's part of his contractual obligation," White said. "Everybody wants more money, more money, more money, but nobody wants to sell the fight or go out and talk to the media. Talking to the media is part of your job, whether you like it or not."

Silva was scheduled to appear on local TV and radio stations, as well as a luncheon with more than a dozen Los Angeles-area newspapers and websites.

Silva is not the first high-profile UFC fighter to skip company-scheduled media appearances. In 2011Nick Diaz missed a pair of pre-UFC 137 press conferences designed to promote a planned bout with UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre. In a then-unprecedented move, White pulled Diaz from the headlining contest and replaced him with Carlos Condit.

White said he is not currently inclined to take similar action against Silva, and the bout with Weidman is still scheduled to serve as the UFC 162 main event.

"Nick Diaz didn't show up for the press conference," White said. "This was just a smaller media day, but it's still not acceptable, so we're fining him $50,000."

Silva's manager, Ed Soares, declined to comment on the matter.

Chris Weidman will finally get the title shot against UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva on July 4th weekend at UFC 161 in Las Vegas, Newsday has learned.

UFC chief executive Lorenzo Fertitta on Wednesday told Weidman, a Baldwin native, in the Capitol building that he spoke to Silva and that he agreed to the fight.

"Dream come true," Weidman said. "Ever since I've been fighting, Anderson Silva has been the champion and I've been visualizing beating him. Now I have the opportunity. I have to make the most of it."

Bout agreements have yet to be signed, but getting Silva to agree to the fight was the biggest hurdle. He and his camp have been saying that they want big fights against big names for big money. Silva, 38, has gone out of his way to avoid saying publicly that he would fight Weidman.

On last week's episode of "UFC Tonight," Silva called Weidman "a boy, a kid."

Weidman (9-0, 5-0 UFC) earned the shot by beating Demian Maiaand Mark Munoz last year. While training for a scheduled fight last December against Tim Boetsch, Weidman tore his right labrum and had surgery. Weidman said Wednesday that his doctor told him a day earlier that he is 100 percent healed and cleared to resume training.

Silva has been the middleweight champion since 2006 and holds every UFC record for consecutive wins and title defenses. He last fought Stephan Bonnar in October at light heavyweight to help save the fight card in his native Brazil.

Event results for UFC 153, which took place Saturday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro.

Main Card

• Anderson Silva def. Stephan Bonnar via TKO (strikes) - Round 1, 4:40
• Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira def. Dave Herman via submission (armbar) – Round 2, 4:31
• Glover Teixeira def. Fabio Maldonado via TKO (doctor's stoppage) - Round 2, 5:00
• Jon Fitch def. Erick Silva via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)
• Phil Davis def. Wagner Prado via submission (anaconda choke) - Round 2, 4:29

• Demian Maia def. Rick Story via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1, 2:30
• Rony Jason def. Sam Sicilia via TKO (strikes) - Round 3, 4:15
• Gleison Tibau def. Francisco Trinaldo via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Diego Brandao def. Joey Gambino via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
• Sergio Moraes def. Renee Forte via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 3, 3:10

• Chris Camozzi def. Luiz Cane via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
• Cristiano Marcello def. Reza Madadi via split decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27)

The UFC's traditional year-end blockbuster event is targeted for MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.

MMAjunkie.com has learned that the promotion has requested the event date and location with the Nevada State Athletic Commission, and UFC officials are moving forward with plans for the event.

It's the UFC's fifth straight year-end event at the venue.

UFC 155 takes place Dec. 29, and heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos meets ex-titleholder Cain Velasquez in the pay-per-view headliner. FX and Facebook are expected to carry the prelims for the star-studded card.

The UFC holds its year-end cards as close to New Year's Eve as possible. However, depending on the calendar, the show sometimes take place after the new year, as it did with UFC 125, which took place Jan. 1, 2011.

UFC 155 will be the 24th UFC event at MGM Grand Garden Arena, which most recently hosted UFC 148 and Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen II on July 7.

Source: MMAJunkie.com

Move over, Matt Serra. There's a bigger underdog in town.

Early lines on UFC 153's new main event, which features a light-heavyweight non-title bout between middleweight champ Anderson Silva and Stephan Bonnar, are lopsided in Silva's favor.

Silva is a more than 13-to-1 favorite and has up to a 93 percent chance of winning the fight, according to BestFightOdds.com, a site that features betting lines from several online bookmakers.

At one point, Serra was a +700 underdog when he fought Georges St-Pierre for the title at UFC 69. The winner of "The Ultimate Fighter 4" wound up scoring the biggest upset in UFC history when he unseated the champ.

Bonnar, who has won his past three fights but recently had signaled his imminent retirement, is up to a +850 underdog on several sites. That means he has an approximately 10 percent chance of winning the fight.

The pay-per-view headliner, which takes place Oct. 13 at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, drew a collective gasp from the MMA community when it was announced late Wednesday.

Silva and Bonnar stepped up to fight on short notice when UFC 153's top draws fell out due to injury. A co-main event fight featuring Glover Teixeira vs. Fabio Maldonado was added, as well, in addition to a heavyweight clash between Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Dave Herman.

Silva (32-4 MMA, 15-0 UFC) most recently defended his middleweight belt and earned his 15th consecutive win in the octagon by defeating Chael Sonnen in a rematch from their UFC 117 bout.

Bonnar (14-7 MMA, 8-6 UFC) bested Kyle Kingsbury this past November at UFC 139, which improved his current win streak to three following a trio of losses to Jon Jones, Mark Coleman and Krzysztof Soszynski, respectively.

Source: mmajunkie.com