Less than two months after announcing a pay-per-view event in Rio de Janeiro on March 5, the UFC has decided to change plans.

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva said on a conference call Tuesday that the promotion has cancelled its trip to Brazil due to the country's economic crisis, and MMAFighting.com learned with sources close to the promotion that the card is off.

"(The plan) was to have me fighting in Brazil against I don’t know who," Silva said, "but with this situation going on in Brazil, economically and everything, the UFC decided to abort this event for now."

Silva, who was considered one of the options for the main event of UFC 197 at the HSBC Arena in March, will now face Michael Bisping at a UFC Fight Pass card in London on Feb. 27.