Kelvin Gastelum and Shogun Rua both call Anderson Silva out

Former UFC middleweight kingpin Anderson Silva was initially set to fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro, however after Gastelum’s 1st round March TKO win over Vitor Belfort, Gastelum was flagged by USADA for a failed drug test for trace amounts of marijuana in his fight night drug sample.

As a result of the failed drug test, Gastelum was pulled from his scheduled UFC 212 scrap with Anderson Silva, however he is now looking to rebook his scrap with Anderson Silva for the summer. With that being said, UFC veteran Shogun Rua also called out Silva for a fight.

Gastelum took to Twitter with a callout for Silva, saying:

“My apologies and respects to Anderson Silva, I can’t make it to the dance in Rio, how about we dance in New York in July?”

My apologies and respects to @SpiderAnderson , I Can't make it to the dance in Rio, how about we dance in New York in July? @ufc @UFCONFOX

— #OnAmission4Gold (@KelvinGastelum) May 4, 2017

Rua on the other hand spoke to Tatame to discuss a potential showdown with Silva, saying that he would be thrilled to fight the MMA legend, but on his timeline, not Silva’s. In addition, Rua spoke about who else he would potentially like to fight:

“I would be thrilled to accept a fight against Anderson Silva, but not in Rio. There’s only a few weeks to go before UFC 212 and I’m not psychologically ready to do a fight camp right now. If I had two months to train, then yes, I would. I really respect Anderson as an athlete, he’s a guy who deserves my respect, but I’d fight him. I’m a professional, above all things.”

“I don’t have any specific names on my mind, but I have a loss against Ovince Saint Preux that’s been bugging me ever since. I think he’s a good fighter, an icon, and he deserves all my respect. He’s big for the division, but the way I lost against him left me very sad. I’m not saying I’m better or worse than him, I was sad with the way it was. So I would like a rematch against Saint Preux in the near future, yes.”

on 5/4/2017.