5 Oz. Exclusive: Thiago Silva no longer expected to fight Lyoto Machida at UFC 89
September 5, 2008 by Sam Caplan
Reliable sources have notified FiveOuncesOfPain.com that undefeated light heavyweight Thiago Silva is no longer expected to fight Lyoto Machida at UFC 89 on October 18 due to a back injury.
The UFC has yet to confirm Silva’s departure from the card but an official announcement is believed to be forthcoming.
It is not known if the UFC was able to immediately secure a new opponent for Machida, as the promotion has had trouble in the past finding willing opponents.
The 25-year old Silva is a native of Sao Paulo, Brazil and is 13-0 in his professional mixed martial arts career, according to Sherdog’s fight finder. Since debuting in the UFC at UFC 71 in May of 2007, Silva is 4-0 in the Octagon with wins over James Irvin, Tomasz Drwal, Houston Alexander, and Antonio Mendes.
Machida is also undefeated with a record of 13-0 and is 5-0 in the UFC. His notable UFC wins have come against Kazuhiro Nakamura, Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, and Tito Ortiz, who served as his most recent opponent in May at UFC 84. Outside of the UFC he holds notables victories over Rich Franklin, B.J. Penn, and Stephan Bonnar.
UFC 89 will emanate from the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England and will be televised on Spike TV on a tape delay basis in the United States. The featured bout on the card will be a middleweight matchup between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben. A light heavyweight fight between Brandon Vera and Keith Jardine is scheduled as well.
(Pictured: Thiago Silva)
This sucks “Game Over” This was the best fight on the card.
He knew what would have happened.
very true
This is great news. How can the UFC give Liddell the next title shot if Machida is 13-0 and riding a 5 fight win streak in the UFC? They were going to use the excuse that the winner of Machida/Silva wouldn’t be ready in time to face Griffin on the New Years show. Now they have to find a different bogus excuse for why both Machida and Silva aren’t more entitled to a shot than Liddell is.
I’m all for “superfights” but not when someones getting screwed out of a title shot.
It’s all about the $ and Chuck fighting for a title in December means lots of it unfortunately. This sounds bad but you either need to be a badass in the cage and finish all your opponents or promote yourself. I don’t think he even speaks English and he’s not Anderson Silva so he needs to help himself and do PR, interviews, get on tv etc.
i can think of a few light heavys that could work here, what about wandy, a rematch with stephan bonnar, or if they put his face back together yet maybe irvin? just throwing names out there, machida is one of my favs and so os silva im really disappointed over this news… heartbreaking
Good opinion “drdsanders”. Couldn’t agree more and if Chucky wins, he will get the title shot in Dec because its all about the benjamins.
Dammit!! I was really looking forward to this fight as T. Silva is one of my favorite fighters, not to mention he could definitely beat Machida. Here’s to a speedy recovery for Thiago and I hope to see him in the cage again soon.
I’m hoping to see Wanderlei Silva step in here although that might be asking too much. I thought Stephan Bonnar was injured with some knee problems and that’s why he isn’t competing in Chicago? I hope they find someone for Machida –> QUICKLY!!!
Oh…what about Rampage???
just realized irvin is out with the steroid thing and ya i know bonner was hurt but i didnt realize it hadnt bin dealt with the hamil fight he was scheduled for was a while ago. only see shogun, rampage and wandy to be at the calibre machida is at that can fight him. im pretty sure it would have to be at a later card.
I cant stand watching Machida fight
WHY????? DID HE GET INJURED?
I think Wandy, Shogun or Rampage would be awsome replacements. They still have 6 weeks to fill this spot. I also wouldn’t be surprised to see the Franklin-Hamill winner put into this spot, or Boetish if he wins impressivly tonight. I just hope Thiago gets better so we can see him back in action by the end of the year, there are so many good fights at LHW right now for everyone.
It is Chucks title shot to lose against Evans, but if Evans wins, then maybe Machida is moved off of 89 and into a title shot on 91 or New Years. He deserves it.
UFC.com hasn’t reported anything about this, and according to their events page, Thiago is still scheduled to fight Machida at 89.
Has anyone from the UFC or from Thiago’s camp actually confirmed this? Because if so, I haven’t seen it yet.