Thiago Silva (13-0) was originally scheduled to take on Lyoto "The Dragon" Machida (13-0) at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England but the fight was canceled due to a back injury that Silva suffered during a training session. The battle of these undefeated 205-pounders has been re-scheduled for UFC 94: ‘St. Pierre vs. Penn 2’ which is scheduled to take place at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Silva is 100% recovered and is looking forward to stand toe-to-toe with the Dragon on January 31st, 2009. He talks about the UFC light heavyweight division and admits the fact that it is by far the most competitive in the world. UFC 92 will hold a title fight as Forrest Griffin puts his belt on the line against "Sugar" Rashad Evans who is also undefeated at this point in his MMA career (12-0-1).
Another 205-pound fighter to be on the lookout is the return of Mauricio "Shogun" Rua who hasn’t fought since his debut loss against Forrest Griffin at UFC 76: ‘Knockout’ that was held back in September of 2007. Since then, Shogun has battled with injuries and a knee surgery throughout all of 2008. He will return to the octagon to face former UFC heavyweight champion Mark "The Hammer" Coleman for a second time at UFC 93. They first met in February of 2006 at Pride 31: ‘Dreamers’ and Coleman won because due to a broken arm within 49 seconds of the first round. The light heavyweight rematch between Shogun and Coleman is scheduled to take place on January 17, 2009 in Dublin, Ireland.
Thiago Silva talked with tatame about his upcoming fight against Lyoto Machida at UFC 94 and gives us his predictions on the upcoming UFC 92 and UFC 93 events:
"I bet on me of course (laughs). I’m well trained and I’m ready. If the fight was in one week I’d already be ready. It’s an important fight for me, I’m moving on and I’m going there to kill or die…my category is tough, there are only good guys, top level athletes, and it’s hard…it’s getting closer and only one will pass. Each one has his goals and it’s not easy…I think that Rashad is in an excellent phase in his career, I bet on him…I’ll cheer for Wanderlei, always to Brazilians. Although I’m making my second fight against Brazilians, I have to cheer for my people…Wanderlei is in great conditions to win…I already had the opportunity of training with Shogun, he is a very talented guy. He’s coming back now, has been doing great training and has everything to come back well, I believe in him…I think he’ll win this rematch."
