“Contrary to whatever the hell [Silva] is saying, he’s not 200 percent healthy,” UFC president Dana White said. “He’s having some bone spurs removed from his elbow, which is a simple little procedure that happens, but you’ve got to have recovery time.”

In a recent interview with UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva’s manager, Ed Soares, he assured Silva’s fans that the champ was NOT having surgery to his elbow and that he was 200% ready to fight.

Whereas another report by ESPN MMA had stated that Silva was to undergo surgery.

Now the UFC president has put a stop to the ‘yes’ ‘no’ rumors.

White said “The Spider” is set to have bone spurs removed from his elbow, and while the procedure is routine, Silva will still need time to recover.

White said heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar recently underwent a similar bone spur removal procedure.

“Brock just had the same thing done,” White said. “He said when they went in there and took it out it was a shark’s tooth. He said it was driving him crazy and he had it taken out.”

When Silva is ready to return to action, White said he’s open to fights at both 185 and 205 pounds. But the UFC exec said he’s not ready to see Silva vacate his middleweight title just yet.

“He’s probably two fights away from literally emptying out the middleweight division,” White said. “But that’s great. I think in my opinion, that’s what makes fighters great. When there’s not another guy standing where people go, ‘What about him? He might win.’ When they’re all gone, then the guy moves up to the next weight class and does the same thing. I think that’s what makes guys legendary, fighters that people remember forever.

“I wouldn’t want to see [Silva] vacate the title until everybody’s gone. I’ll give you an example. Let’s say Vitor (Belfort) comes in, and Vitor has to fight Dan Henderson and (Nate) Marquardt, and he goes right in and knocks both of them out in the first round. Anderson vacated the title, and people go, ‘Oh, Vitor would have beat him.’ You annihilate everybody. You don’t leave a guy standing in the division, and then you move.”

Source: MMAjunkie.com