| UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 The poster for UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben | ||||
| Information | ||||
| Promotion | Ultimate Fighting Championship | |||
| Date | October 18, 2008 | |||
| Venue | National Indoor Arena | |||
| City | Birmingham, United Kingdom | |||
| Attendance | 9,515 [1] | |||
| Event chronology | ||||
| ||||
UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on October 18, 2008, at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
The event was headlined by a middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Chris Leben. After the event, Leben tested positive for Stanozolol, a banned substance. He was suspended for a period of 9 months and fined one third of his purse. [2] Leben admitted he had used the substance several months prior to the fight, but stated he had assumed it would have been out of his system by then.
This event aired live in Great Britain and Ireland on Setanta Sports and via tape delay in the United States and Canada on Spike TV. It also aired live via Rogers Sportsnet in Canada. The broadcast drew an average of 2.6 million viewers and peaked with 3.4 million viewers on Spike TV. [3]
Lyoto Machida was scheduled to face fellow undefeated light heavyweight Thiago Silva, but a back injury forced Silva to withdraw from the fight. [4] The fight was rescheduled for UFC 94 .
This event marked the debut of longtime UFC fighter and record holder Jim Miller.
| Main card (Spike TV) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weight class | Method | Round | Time | Notes | |||
| Middleweight | Michael Bisping | def. | Chris Leben | Decision (unanimous) (30–27, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Keith Jardine | def. | Brandon Vera | Decision (split) (28–29, 29–28, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Luiz Cane | def. | Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou | TKO (punches) | 2 | 4:15 | |
| Welterweight | Chris Lytle | def. | Paul Taylor | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 30–27, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Welterweight | Marcus Davis | def. | Paul Kelly | Submission (guillotine choke) | 2 | 2:16 | |
| Preliminary card | |||||||
| Welterweight | Dan Hardy | def. | Akihiro Gono | Decision (split) (29–28, 28–29, 29–28) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Heavyweight | Shane Carwin | def. | Neil Wain | TKO (punches) | 1 | 1:31 | |
| Lightweight | David Bielkheden | def. | Jess Liaudin | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Terry Etim | def. | Sam Stout | Decision (unanimous) (29–28, 29–28, 30–27) | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Lightweight | Jim Miller | def. | David Baron | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 3:19 | |
| Lightweight | Per Eklund | def. | Samy Schiavo | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 3 | 1:47 | |
All fighters were awarded an extra $40,000. [5]
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