Three more bouts officially added to UFC 89
UFC.com has announced three additional bouts for October 18th’s UFC 89.
The Ultimate Fighting Championship(R) (UFC(R)) has added three thrilling bouts to the organization’s next UK super-show. It has been confirmed that Rameau Sokoudjou will collide with Luiz Cane in a battle of light-heavyweight strikers, Japanese submission expert Akihiro Gono will take on on highly-regarded British debutant Dan Hardy and steel-fisted heavyweight Shane Carwin will exchange bombs with England’s own Neil Wain.
There are definitely some quality match-ups in there, however I am slightly disappointed that I might not to get to see Sokoudjou vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua anytime soon. Who knows, maybe if the “African Assassin” comes out of the Cane fight unscathed (which I doubt) we may get to see him take on Shogun in December.
UFC 89 is headlined by a middleweight contest between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben and is set to take place on October 18th at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England.
The current rumored line-up is as follows:
- Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
- Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez*
- Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
- Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
- Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain
- Paul Kelly vs. Marcus Davis*
- Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden*
- Samy Schiavo vs. Per Eklund*
- Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim*
*Indicates rumored bout as foretold by MMA Weekly.com.
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Sam Cupitt is is a contributor to FiveOuncesofPain.com
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This is shaping up to be a solid card even though there is no true main event match.
Free on Spike as well? Solid stuff
Bisping vs Leben MW Eliminator
Alves vs Sanchez WW Eliminator/Alves test to make weight
Sokoudjou vs Cane Slugfest
Hardy vs Gono 2 Solid Contenders
Carwin vs Wain Major HW Prospect
Kelly vs Davis Two Scrappy Guys Fighting
If they show all 6 of those fights.. I would be happy and probably willing to even pay for it. If they were to add a title fight they could easily turn this into a PPV event.
This is a very solid, if not great UFN card to follow up the outstanding one in Colorado.
Not counting this Saturday, which is more of an U-FU-N, lol!
OOOOPPS!, was thinking of the Omaha card, not the free card from England. I am an idiot, lol.
Maybe I am wrong, but I feel this card is very soft, and the weakest of 2008. I am looking at this from a marketing standpoint and not the quality of fighters or the matchups, as there are some great matchups.
I feel the UFC is going to have a tough time promoting this card with only a couple of known names, and a few others that are moderately known.
I am sure many people reading this will disagree, but most people that read this site know the fighters very well and have a hard time differentiating between what they know, and what the regular public knows. Ask the regular public to name 20 fighters 9if they could name 20) and likely only Bisping would be named due to his TUF fame.
It seems pretty clear that this card is designed for UK fans. I guess it will be free in the States, which is smart. I don’t think the card is strong enough to generate many ppv buys. I’ll definitely watch if it’s free, but not otherwise.
I think Bisping vs Leben is an excellent matchup. Maybe not PPV main event calibre but defenitely spike material. We know that Leben will bring the pressure and I am interested to see how Bisping does. I think Bisping is a lot better than a lot of people give him credit for. He was easily way above his competition on the TUF show and I think this is an ideal weight for him. His work ethic is great and if he gets a few more wins at MW I think a match with Anderson Silva in the UK could be the biggest UK event yet.
Soko vs Cane….. I really would like to see Soko up against a bigger name but this could be an interesting match. With a win here Soko could set up a gatekeeper fight and put himself right in the mix. I’d like to see him fight a high pressure guy like Houston Alexander or Thiago Silva. Speaking of Thiago Silva I would love to see him against Machida. Somebody’s O must GO.
ehhh should be fun
I love Gono vs Hardy; Gono is the perfect guy to test Hardy out of the gate.
I’m excited for this event. This is a solid card and will have a bunch of highlight reel endings.
Very interesting fights, nothing worthy of headlining a ppv, but if it’s free on spike it should be a very good show.
Is this on Spike or not ? #2 mentioned UFN, but it is ufc 89? It is in England and those used to be free in the past
This is UFC 89 and will most likely be free on Spike. Apparently Spike was a little unsure on whether or not they’ll pick it up and wanted some more name fighters on there first. I don’t think there should be much of a problem anymore.