Michael Bisping Looking for UFC Title Bout
By BOB EMANUEL JR. | Scripps Howard News Service
Michael Bisping pounded a quick rise through the Ultimate Fighting Championship ranks.
Bisping, who turns 34 next month, won “The Ultimate Fighter’s” third season as a light heavyweight in 2006. The two-time Cage Warriors light heavyweight champion then ran his record to 14-0 before he suffered his first loss to Rashad Evans in 2007. He dropped to middleweight for his next fight, a technical knockout of Charles McCarthy, and found a home. Since the drop, Bisping is 9-3, including victories over Brian Stann, Jason Miller, Chris Leben and Yoshihiro Akiyama.
The one thing to elude Bisping? A UFC title bout. That could change Saturday, when Bisping fights Vitor Belfort in the main event of UFC on FX 7, which will air live at 4 p.m. HST from the Ibirapuera Arena in Sao Paulo. Last month, UFC president Dana White said a victory by Bisping would give him a shot at middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
“I’ve been in No. 1 contender match ups twice,” Bisping said. “One time it was a super-close decision to Chael Sonnen (last year) that I feel, and a lot of people, felt I won, but unfortunately the judges gave it to him. The second time was a legitimate loss to Dan Henderson (in 2009). It’s nobody’s fault but my own.”
Belfort, a former UFC light heavyweight champion, is 7-2 in his last nine fights, with both losses coming in championship bouts to Silva in 2011 and UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones last year.
“Vitor is very experienced,” Bisping said. “He’s very durable. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him knocked out cold. He has a great chin. He’s been in there with the best in the world. He’s an incredibly fast and powerful man and has a very dangerous ground game, jiu-jitsu wise.
“The downsides are he’s been through a lot of wars. He’s very explosive in the first round. After that, he tends to slow off a little bit. He’s never won any fights that have gone past the first or second round, and his cardio is not the best. That said, I’m expecting he’s going to be in great shape.”
The remainder of the televised card will feature middleweights Daniel Sarafian vs. C.B. Dollaway, heavyweights Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ben Rothwell and lightweights Thiago Tavares vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.
The preliminaries, which can be seen live on Fuel TV at 1 p.m. HST, include featherweights Godofredo Castro vs. Milton Vieira; middleweights Ronny Markes vs. Andrew Craig; featherweights Diego Nunes vs. Nik Lentz; and lightweights Edson Barboza vs. Lucas Martins.
