Chicago will be treated to one of the most exciting matches in recent history when it plays host to Thiago Alves vs. Diego Sanchez, set for UFC 90.

MMA Weekly has the scoop:

After first breaking the news that top welterweights Thiago Alves and Diego Sanchez would meet at UFC 89 in Birmingham, England, MMAWeekly.com has just learned that the fight will instead take place on the as of yet unannounced card for UFC 90 set to take place in Chicago, Ill.

MMAWeekly.com confirmed the change with sources close to the fight. UFC president Dana White, in speaking to the Chicago Sun Times on Monday, announced an Oct. 25 date in confirming UFC 90 for the Allstate Arena in Chicago. He did not confirm any bouts for the event.

UFC 90 follows one week after the UFC 89 show in England. UFC 89 is currently still rumored to be a free show on Spike TV, but again, there is no confirmation for that yet from the UFC.

Alves and Sanchez were set to be part of the co-main event for UFC 89, but the promotion decided to push up the light heavyweight bout between Thiago Silva and Lyoto Machida as the other headliner behind the main event featuring Michael Bisping vs. Chris Leben.

It is now believed that the Alves vs. Sanchez fight will be part of the main event set up for the card in Chicago for UFC 90, but no other fights have been rumored or announced as of yet.

Cage Potato reveals that Brandon Vera will get Keith Jardine in his next match up at 205. This is a very interesting fight, with both guys on the cusp of the top tier of 205ers. Jardine was there, after the wins against Forrest and Liddell, and Vera is on his way. The winner of this fight is easily top 10 material, and the loser will most likely not be ranked.

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No, this is not an article warning of the latest Salmonella tainted food, nor is it a story of on the new Nigerian money scam. Instead, it is about this entirely different mess of a situation regarding live mixed martial arts audiences.

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When asked by ProMMARadio about a potential fight with St. Pierre, Silva's manager and trainer had this to say:

"That sounds great, I think GSP is an incredible fighter. But I think GSP needs to prove himself. He still hasn't had a successful title defense (at 170 lbs.). I don't really feel that he deserves (a Silva fight) yet. Go defend your title a few times and then we'll talk."

Which prompted Cage Potato to say this:

The thing is, St. Pierre has proven himself many times over to be an elite-level fighter, and Soares is veering uncomfortably close to Juanito Ibarra territory, wild statement-wise. But what makes his dismissal of GSP particularly ironic is that Spider's next fight is likely going to be against Patrick Cote, who doesn't deserve to be in the same room as Silva or GSP. With Yushin Okami suffering a broken hand, Cote is really and truly next in line for a title shot; that little shitshow could happen at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta).

A relatively one-dimensional striker, Cote doesn't bring any more to the table than James Irvin did, and their bout will almost certainly be another brief exhibition for Silva. The silver lining is that with this belt-defense obligation out of the way quickly, Silva will be free to "test the waters" at light-heavyweight again — and he does plan on fighting at least one more time before the end of the year.

MMAPayout.com has learned that Saturday night's broadcast of UFC: Silva vs Irvin on Spike TV drew a 2.1 rating (3.1 million viewers). In the key demographics, the broadcast delivered a 2.8 in M18-49, a 3.2 in Men 18-34, and a 2.0 in P18-49. The event was the highest rated program on television (cable or network) on Saturday in M18-34, M18-49, M25-34, and P18-34.

The broadcast peaked at 11:30PM for Silva-Irvin which drew 3.8 million viewers and a 4.9 rating in M25-34 and a 4.1 in M18-34.

In other words, it did well. Really, really well.

MMA Weekly reports:

There has been a lot of speculation about how UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva would do fighting up in the 205-pound weight class. Some of those questions, and a few more that were posed, were answered on Saturday night in Las Vegas as Silva disposed of James Irvin in the first minute of the first round of their light heavyweight showdown at UFC Fight Night 14.

Though Silva proved that he has what it takes to fight at 205 pounds, his immediate plans don't include another light heavyweight bout. Instead, he has plans to go back to middleweight and defend his title belt.

Even as the fight with Irvin was first announced, UFC president Dana White said that Silva would be making a quick stop at 205 and then defend his belt on Sept. 6 when the Ultimate Fighting Championship stops in Atlanta for the first time.

"Anderson Silva, being the monster that he is, you all know is going to move up to 205 on July 19… If everything goes well, he wants to move back to 185 and fight Sept. 6 in Atlanta, probably against Yushin Okami, then he wants to fight again two months later," said White at the time.

But even the best-laid plans sometimes hit a snag, and so has Silva's planned title defense at UFC 88 in Georgia.

"Okami's out of that fight. He broke his hand. If (Silva) fights in September it’ll be (Patrick) Cote," stated White at Saturday night’s post-fight press conference at the Palms in Las Vegas.

Cote recently solidified his spot in the queue of fighters waiting for a shot at Silva when he defeated Ricardo Almeida on July 5 at UFC 86.

"(Silva) said he wants to defend his 185-pound title. He said he wants to test the waters at 205. He did (on Saturday night)," continued White. “He's going to defend his title again in September and then probably try to take another fight at 205.

"I think he wants to take his time. I think he wants to stay at 185 and completely clean out that division, go from there."

Silva's ambition puts him on task to fight at least two more times this year after already having fought twice earlier in 2008. It's something that White admires about his champion.

"(Silva) took the fight (with Irvin) on short notice, moved up to 205, wants to fight all the best guys in the world at 185 pounds, wants to fight all the best guys at 205 pounds, wants to fight every three months. It's a little difficult for us to move things around, but when a guy has that mentality. I love it."