We can all guess on how to call this; but I am puzzled. Thiago is an exciting fighter and he finishes fights. Lyoto not so much on the other hand. I would hate to see Thiago lose two times in one night/on the same fight as stated above by steveoc24.

Having to wait almost a year for a title fight due to bs like a TUF season is ridiculous. Champions need to take the Anderson Silva approach and demand to fight every 3 months. In divisions as stacked as lw, ww, and lhw there is plenty of talent waiting in the wings for their shots. Dana needs to recognize this, especially in the lhw division, where the top tier fighters aren’t that far from the champ in terms of skill. The lhw belt could be constantly changing hands for a while to come with the amount of talent in that pool.

Love this fight… praying that it’s for Forrest’s fight title defence.

I think this is actually a challenge to Machida – not in that he’s an underdog, but that’s up against someone who has serious power and a relentless style. I think of Thiago as a “Wanderlei Lite” sort of fighter, and Thiago will HAVE to engage or risk running full out, a la Starnes vs. Quarry. I think this is the UFC telling Machida that the point fighting has gotten him this far, but it’s time to put up the dukes. If he does, he’ll probably win; his skills are incredible, he’s very strong, very quick and very accurate. If he doesn’t, he won’t be able to lay back and launch long distance attacks like he did against Ortiz; Silva’s aggression and striking make that impossible, so he won’t be able to pick his spots and might even get caught while backing up. I like this matchup, and if Silva does pull of the upset, he’s made a HUGE jump in the division. If he loses, well, he lost to a guy who no one has figured out yet, and doesn’t really fall too far in the pecking order.

I will go on the record by predicting Thiago Silva wins by viscious Ground n Pound

I agree with lovingmma25, I am not sure it is going to be by GnP but Thiago will win

Bisping/Leben, Alves/Sanchez, & now 2 unbeatens going at it. I’ve heard the fight will be free on Spike, but with the addition of Machida/Silva, UFC 89 certainly looks PPV buy-worthy.

Thiago’s only advantage is punching power but that will be negated by the speed and style of Machida. Machida’s straight left will land with glaring efficiency which will lead to sending Thiago down in a heap and being finished off by Machida from the top.

... considering the current LHW situation. I would love to see Machida in a title fight, cause I do like watching him fight. but ultimately he won’t really sell PPVs well, and if he were to be LHW champ, I can see some problems later on for PPVs. It comes down in part to what makes the most business sense. Machida won’t be in any danger in a fight with Thiago.

Machida is a black belt himself. Trained by the Nogueira’s.

.. is if he lands in mount or on top. Off his back, he’ll be in trouble. Thiago has to land the big punch or a vicious combo.

Wish this fight was Machida v. Wanderlei but this fisn’t horrible. I’m just hoping that if Machida outclasses Thiago that we don’t hear the circular argument that Thiago wasn’t very good in the first place because he lost to Machida and therefore Machida still hasn’t proven himself.