MMAWeekly.com

While things are rarely set in stone when it comes to title shots, it is believed that the winner of this fight would be in line to challenge for the welterweight title.

Spike TV and the UFC are moving closer to finalizing a deal where UFC 89 would air live on the cable channel according to MMA Junkie.  The event takes place at The NIA in Birmingham, England on October 18.

The report goes on to say that Anderson Silva, arguably the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, could be added to the card.  UFC President Dana White did say this past Saturday following the UFC Fight Night 14 show that Silva's next fight would like be defending the middleweight title against Patrick Cote.  Yushin Okami was in line for a title shot but he recently broke his hand during training.

Adding Silva to the card would really bolster what is shaping up to be a very good event.  Other matches already announced for UFC 89 include:

Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben
Lyoto Machida vs. Thiago Silva
Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
Dan Hardy vs. Akihiro Gono
Shane Carwin vs. Neil Wain

“The Ultimate Fighting Championship proved yet again to be the ratings champion with the hard-to-reach demographic of young men. Spike TV’s telecast of a live ‘UFC Fight Night’ on Saturday, July 19 (9:00pm-12:00am ET) featuring the best pound-for-pound fighter in the world, Anderson Silva, out-delivered every other channel (broadcast and cable) with Men 18-34 (903,000), Men 18-49 (1,550,000), Men 25-34 (622,000), and Persons 18-34 (1,326,000).* The telecast peaked at 11:30pm for the Silva vs. James Irvin bout drawing 3.8 million viewers and a staggering 4.9 rating for Men 25-34 and a 4.1 rating in Men 18-34.

The UFC fight card also drew more viewers than FOX’s coverage of MLB (3,072,000) earlier in the day and nearly tripled its reach of Men 18-34 (369,000) and doubled the Men 18-49 (879,000).

Overall, the three-hour live UFC event averaged a 2.1 household rating, a 2.8 with Men 18-49, a 3.2 with Men 18-34, a 2.0 with P18-49 and 3.1 million total viewers. Comparing to other marquee weekend events, Spike’s UFC telecast also drew more Men 18-49 than ESPN’s coverage of “The ESPY Awards” (1,127,000) and Men 18-34 (689,000).

Compared to the time period a year ago, the ‘UFC Fight Night’ was up +229% in household rating, +451% in M18-49, +463% in M18-34, +470% in M25-34 and +266% in average audience.”

Overall, it had the third most viewers to watch a UFC event in the history of the promotion.

“Went to the doctor yesterday, he performed quite a few tests on my knee. With the results of the tests on my knee and from what I have told him, he definitely thinks the MCL and the PCL is rebuilding itself. The next time I go back up there, in a month to a month and a half, I will get an MRI and that way he can get a picture of the knee and he can see better what’s going on. So right now, I’m going to work out lightly, try and build up my quadricep as much as I can. Do nothing with the hamstring really, from what he said and he says possibly being able to fight in 6-7 months."

UNDERCARD

Paul Buentello def. Gary Goodridge by unanimous decision
Vitor Belfort def. Terry Martin by TKO in the 2nd round

MAIN CARD

Anderson Silva def. James Irvin by TKO at 1:01 of the 1st round
Brandon Vera def. Reese Andy by unanimous decision
Frank Edgar def. Hermes Franca by unanimous decision
Cain Velasquez def. Jake O’Brien by TKO in the 1st round
Kevin Burns def. Anthony Johnson by TKO at 3:35 of the 3rd round
CB Dollaway def. Jesse Taylor by submission (choke) at 3:58 of the 1st round

UNDERCARD
Tim Credeur def. Cale Yarbrough by TKO in the 1st round
Rory Markham def. Brodie Farber by KO (head kick) in the 1st round
Nate Loughran def. Johnny Rees by submission (choke) at 4:21 of the 1st round
Brad Blackburn def. James Giboo by TKO (strikes) at 2:29 in the 2nd round
Shannon Gugerty def. Dale Hartt by submission (rear naked choke) at 3:33 of the 1st round