Lyoto Machida off UFC 89 card
September 10, 2008 by Sam Caplan
After having his opponent at UFC 89, Thiago Silva, pull off the card last week due to a back injury, undefeated light heavyweight Lyoto Machida has bee removed entirely from the Oct. 18 card, according to UFC.com.
It’s expected that a new opponent for Machida will be secured and that he’ll be scheduled to fight on a show in either November or December. He has been rumored as a possible opponent for when Mauricio “Shogun” Rua is ready to return from a knee injury,
Replacing Machida vs. Silva on the six-fight Spike TV tentative UFC 89 televised lineup is a heavyweight fight between Shane Carwin and Neil Wain.
UFC 89 will emanate from the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, England and will be headlined by a middleweight matchup between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben. Other bouts slated for the card include Keith Jardine vs. Brandon Vera, Luiz Cane vs. Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, Paul Kelly vs. Marcus Davis, Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle, and Wain vs. Carwin.
Scheduled for the preliminary portion of the card is a welterweight bout between Akihiro Gono and UFC newcomer Dan Hardy, Jess Liaudin vs. David Bielkheden, Sam Stout vs. Terry Etim, Jim Miller vs. David Baron, and Per Eklund vs. Samy Schiavo.
For a guy so elusive, that’s some nasty looking cauliflower ear in that picture.
OK, my tickets are going on ebay.
Why does the UFC think they can get away with sending shit cards over to the UK and expect fans to buy tickets that are so expensive.
Why would they not put on Hardy vs. Gono on the main draw? Two class fighters, one of which is making his UFC debut in his home country, the crowd will go nuts. Plus the matchup should produce a decent fight. I think Wain might be British, but come on, the dude is gonna get rolled over by Cain.
Machida is over rated! I’d like to see rich franklin kick him in the liver!
Carwin — Wain’s fighting Carwin.
And likely Carwin’s going on the main card to get him more exposure, as he’s likely in line for a big HW push in the next calendar year or so.
Is it just me, or does this scream “MEDIOCRE” ?
Machida is over rated anyways! I’d like to see Rich Franklin kick him in the liver! That’s a fight I want to see.
Not surprised Machida is off the card now. They weren’t going to find anyone of any substance to fight him on such short notice. It makes more sense to move him back to another card and hopefully get a good matchup for him.
I do agree with a previous poster as well, I’d rather see the Gono/Hardy fight too. Should be a good one.
Powers, it’s a freebie..just watch and enjoy. Sometimes the cards that don’t look great on paper have some of the best fights.
This sucks, if this was the States I’m sure they’d have got a big name replacement in, but we get a fight promoted from the undercard to the main card. I can’t help but think the UFC still see the UK audience as secondary and this adds to my theory.
Oh sorry, Carwin not Cain. My bad. Either way, still wanna see Hardy make his much anticipated UFC debut.
I’d like to see Machida and Franklin rematch too. Machida beat him but I don’t think a rematch would be very interesting.
I really think it would! Rich is better fighter than when he lost to him! I think he would win by knockout to be honest!
Jeremy makes an excellent point.
I would rather they hold off on Machida until November or December and have him take on Shogun/Wandy/Jackson rather than throw someone in for 89 like Eric Schafer or Brad Morris.
Franklin vs Machida @ 91 great co main event since Wandy has his heart set on 92 and Jacksons legal problems.
Atleast someone agrees!
Franklin vs. Machida would be a good match up, but regardless…
The card still looks good without Machida on it. I’d have actually forked out my money to purchase on PPV, but the fact we’ll get it free is fabulous! In my mind, it’s still shaping up to be the best card on free TV this year.
And we’ll still get to see Machida against (hopefully) a Grade A opponent later in the year. Throwing in a B level fighter to keep hin on the UK card, ala Tim Bosch (who I really like, hope I spelt his name right) would be worse then just dropping the fight.
I think Machida will fight Shogun at either 91 or 92, whenever Shogun’s knee is ready. Rampage and Wandy are other good options, but Rampage was out, because I’m sure with his legal trouble that he can’t leave the country.
I wouldn’t worry too much about getting to seeing other fights, Carwin and Wain are a combined 13-0 and have never been out of the first round, I don’t think that fight is going to last long, and it will help build some hype in the HW division no matter who wins (I’m taking Carwin).
Ken: News Flash! Machida already beat the hell out of Franklin once. I would like to see a rematch though. My two cents on Machida is this: I think he is an impressive and intelligent fighter. I like to see a brawl just as much as the next guy but I also enjoy the mental aspect of the game. Machida fights to win and he doesn’t let himself get baited into his opponent’s game plan. He frustrates his opponents and makes them make mistakes. I really wanted to see how he would respond from the pressure that Silva would have brought. One of these days someone will solve the puzzle and beat him but I don’t think that is going to happen for a while.
Franklin is a game opponent at 185 and 205, if hendo is still considered a top 15 pound for pound fighter in the world then I believe franklin is right there as well. So news flash jackyl franklin had beaten named opponents recently including okami, wow machida beat ortiz in a decicion! That’s not a named opponent anymore.
This card just took a serious hit. I understand pushing him back but, that just means this card sucks. Machida would destroy Franklin, his skillset is just too much for the Ace. He is also a training partner and friend of one Anderson Silva. Rich hasn’t changed much since he last got blasted by Machida.
Franklin beat Okami in the realm of crappy judging. Lord Cecil Peoples oversees this kingdom.
Dan UK - - all I can say is UFC 78 - - that isn;t always true (if it were in the states it there’d be a big name replacment) at the time rashad and bisping was not the best of main events……
Don’t forget guys. Even without big names you can still have a quality fight card. Sometimes the less flashy cards end up having the best fights, and sometimes the big time cards end up being a let down. Just a thought.
Though I would have thoroughly enjoyed Machida demolish T. Silva, Ill settle for watching Carwin again, hopefully another brutal knockout.
Haters hatin on Machida again…..
Same shit, different topic
Ace moved to 205 to avoid Hendo btw
I highly doubt that’s why he’s at 205 hendo can just as easy fight at 205! Don’t hate on Franklin he’s a great fighter. He belongs in conversation with the best guys in the business.
Big time bummer, I really wanted to see him! I hope they move him to UFC 90 assuming I don’t have any exams I would get tickets in a heartbeat!
I’m glad their moving him back to get a higher profile fight. It will suck for shogun if he has to fight Machida while he is coming off of a loss. 2 consecutive losses is a hard thing to rebound from.
I personally think that him vs Franklin would be better for Machida’s career. Franklin is more well known than Rua (in the UFC).
Scratch that UFC 90 comment. If they moved it to 91 that would be super high profile!
Hey ken, I bet you’d like to see Rich Franklin kick him in the liver!
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I wanted to see this fight
Yeah he can compete at 205, I did not dispute that. However, Hendo wants to get that rematch with Silva at 185 and it would have been inevitable to fight Franklin. Since Franklin cannot beat Spider I understand his move. But Hendo isnt going to be chasing him to 205. You can read between the lines.
I think Franklin moved up a weight class for more opportunities of liver kicks. Right Ken?
Franklin’s basic philosophy is the larger the man the larger the liver. This will yield more liver kicks hence his change in weight class.
What he is not foreseeing, in this weight class, is he will eventually have to fight Rampage. If he kicks Rampage in the liver then God will instruct Rampage to drive his monster truck into Franklin’s liver. This will result in a mis-carriage of Franklin’s baby or what I like to call Rich’s “Ace in the hole”
I don’t want to see Machida V Shogun just yet to be honest.
I want Shogun back on the winning side of the fence, in dominant fashion.. and I can’t see anyone really dominating Machida’s elusiveness.
Machida might be top 5 - but there’s alot of top 10’s at 205 that’d make good fights for him. You can’t really deny the guy a continued climb up the ladder though, nothing has been handed to him on a silver platter.
Say what you will, Franklin fighting forest, liddell, machida, and even cry baby rua. Would all be great matchups.
Muhcheeduh is impervious to liver kicks.
just sayin… you think the man Machida is elusive, you should see his liver. it bobs and weaves like Chris Byrd. it feels a strike coming and quick jumps up behind the lungs. Franklin will be lucky to tag a piece of large intestine.
chris byrd got ktfo in his last fight so thats a terrible comparison
what is Chris Byrd known for? his movement and elusiveness to the point of being annoying, or getting ktfo in his last fight? but yeah, Chris Byrd to Machidas’ liver is a terrible comparison. Grappo was very buzzed last night.
Agree with Jeremy - no reason for them to put Machida up against a no-name. But I don’t want to see him vs Shogun either (yet). Let Shogun beat up a can or two first. Nobody at the bars (the casual fans) have a clue who Shogun is. He should have a chance to look GOOD and stand out a bit before risking his potential drawing power against a dude like Machida.
Machida is overrated? How is that? Dude is a great striker and doesn’t get hit. And his ground game is good as well. I know most people like to see guys take damage and get bloodied up, but I for one admire his technique.
Machida should fight Rashad
I agree too that we are keep getting crappy fighters on our cards…Ive been to UFC 70, 75, 80, 85 and will be at 89, we keep getting the likes of Marcus Davis, Jess Liaudin, Paul Taylor! They can be pretty good to watch when they perform well…but I’d like to see some others fighters and not them every card, we have Bisping most of the time which I think is enough to please the british crowd! And theres those undercard fights (which is what I mean by crappy fighters) which ends up being 3 round boring fights….to be honest Ive had enough of Bisping and I actually hope Leben wins, I cant see Bisping ever winning the middleweight title with the likes of Franklin, Henderson, Silva etc So I hope next time round the UFC brings other foreign fighters and not British fighters all the time!
TheSomberlain , I’m pretty sure Machida had no plans moving up to HW to fight Sylvia. And we know Timmy can’t make 205