It was a historic year for mixed martial arts - the sport exploded in popularity on prime time TV - and especially for Anderson Silva. By defending his middleweight belt for the ninth time, "The Spider" won the fight of the year against Japan's Yushin Okami in Brazil, and was proclaimed the greatest athlete in the history of MMA.

The upcoming UFC event in Brazil has seen the addition of two more bouts as welterweights Paulo Thiago (14-3) vs. Mike ‘Quicksand’ Pyle (21-8-1), and heavyweights Rob ‘The Bear’ Broughton (15-7-1) vs. Edinaldo Oliveira (13-0-1, 1NC) have all agreed to meet at the upcoming Rio card.

The announcement was made on Tuesday (Nov. 29, 2011) at UFC.com.

Skilled contenders Paulo Thiago and Mike Pyle will meet in a welterweight battle, as “Quicksand” will enter Thiago’s home territory at UFC 142.

A heavyweight bout on the undercard completes the Brazil card’s lineup, as undefeated Brazilian Ednaldo Oliveira has agreed to make his UFC debut against the U.K’s Rob “The Bear” Broughton.

Thiago will make his second straight appearance in front of his fellow Brazilians having competed at last August’s UFC 134 event against David Mitchell. There Thiago would earn a unanimous decision against his opponent, ending a two fight losing skid which saw him drop matches to Diego Sanchez at UFC 121 and to Martin Kampmann at UFC 115.

Pyle was also in action in August, losing by first round TKO to Rory MacDonald at UFC 133. The defeat ended a three fight win streak for ‘Quicksand’ which saw him defeat Ricardo Almeida at UFC 128, John Hathaway at UFC 120, and Jesse Lennox at UFC 115. So far in the UFC, Pyle is just 4-3 since making his debut back in May 2009.

Middleweight fighter, Chris ‘The Crippler’ Leben (22-8) has found himself in trouble following a failed drug test following his loss to Mark Munoz at UFC 138 earlier this month.

Leben tested positive for Oxycodone and Oxymorphone, both banned prescription painkillers.

In a statement released by the Ultimate Fighting Championship today (Nov. 28, 2011), and due to the lack of a regulatory body for mixed martial arts in England, the promotion opted to suspend Leben for one year.

Former UFC lightweight Kurt ‘Batman’ Pellegrino (16-7) made his debut with the Bellator Fighting Championships on Saturday night in Atlantic City, coming off of a semi-imposed retirement after being cut from the UFC last spring.

Pellegrino debuted on the main card of Bellator 59 in New Jersey against Patricky ‘Pitbull’ Freire.