Anderson Silva officially removed from UFC 212 card

There have been weeks of speculation about whether or not Anderson Silva will be part of June’s UFC 212 card. All signs seemed to point to the latter after “The Spider” dismantled his training camp for the event early this week.

On Thursday, the UFC made it official, announcing that the former long-time middleweight champion will no longer be part of the event. A statement was released through UFC.com.

Following the April 6 removal of Kelvin Gastelum from his UFC 212 bout against Anderson Silva, UFC officials attempted to find a replacement to meet Silva on June 3. However an opponent was not secured to face the former middleweight champion on short notice, prompting his removal from the card at Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Due to Anderson Silva's withdrawal, customers may request a full refund of their purchased tickets until May 18, 2017.

The 42-year-old Silva has also been extremely unhappy about his current situation in the UFC. So much so that he issued a threat of retirement if he would not be granted an interim title shot.

UFC 212 features other notable Brazilian fighters on the card, including Vitor Belfort, who will be fighting his retirement fight against Nate Marquardt. It will be headlined by a featherweight unification title bout between Jose Aldo and Max Holloway.