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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor More injury related news for the UFC, and this one's a bit bigger. The planned co-headlining fight between Thiago Silva and Lyoto Machida for UFC 89 is off, as Silva has been forced to withdraw with a back injury. Fiveouncesofpain.com first reported his withdrawal. Both men were coming into the fight with perfect 13-0 records, and many thought the winner would be the #1 contender for Forrest Griffin's Light Heavyweight Title. Of course, that position may go to the winner of tomorrow's main event between Chuck Liddell and Rashad Evans, but Silva and Machida had been making their case over the past year in the UFC. No official announcement has been made by the UFC, and it is unknown at this time if a replacement will be found for Silva. UFC 89 comes to you on SpikeTV from Birmingham, England, on October 18th.
Penick's Analysis: This is a big blow to the UFC 89 card. Silva was set to be a major test for Lyoto Machida and a win would have tossed either man into the discussion for a Title fight. We'll continue to follow this and hopefully we'll get an announcement on Machida's status for the show. Off the top of my head I can't think of a suitable immediate replacement to put in against Machida, and there's been rumblings of it being difficult to find him willing opponent's in the past due to his style.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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