On Saturday February 27, the UFC is coming back to London with an exclusive UFC Fight Pass event at the O2 Center, where former middleweight kingpin, Anderson Silva, takes on Michael Bisping. This is Silva’s first fight since being suspended for alleged steroid use, and on the other hand, Bisping is on a two-fight winning streak, with his last loss coming against current champion Luke Rockhold.

Rockhold is scheduled to fight at UFC 199 in a rematch with Chris Weidman. The different outcomes of both the Silva vs. Bisping and Rockhold vs. Weidman opens up a lot of different options for what could potentially be the next title fight.

It seems to be almost a given due to how dominant of a champion Silva was, that if he defeats Bisping, he would be guaranteed a title shot. At the age of 40, “The Spider” is going on one last run for a shot at getting back his belt that he defended 10 times over a seven year span. A loss is not an option for Silva if he plans on getting another crack at a title fight.

Bisping will be making his return to his hometown of England for the biggest fight of possibly his entire career. Bisping has been apart of the promotion since winning TUF 3 back in 2006, and in his 10 years in the UFC, along with 24 fights, he has been able to consistently be one of the best ranked middleweights on this planet. With that being said, Bisping has yet to get a chance at a title shot, with on multiple occasions being in title eliminator fights and just falling short of finally getting his chance. Although he is only on a 2 fight win streak, Bisping has paid his dues for the promotion and with a win against former champ Silva he should finally get his chance at a championship fight.

If Rockhold defends his belt against Weidman, a perfect fight for him to prove he truly is the greatest middleweight alive would be against former pound-for-pound #1 fighter in Silva. Due to both of their styles it would be a very intriguing matchup, but on the other hand if Bisping has already been defeated by Rockhold rather recently and with ease. A rematch between Rockhold and Bisping is likely not a fight that anyway would really get exited about and because of that, if Bisping pulls off the win against Silva he would probably need another win to get him the title fight.

If Weidman, who was rumored to have had fought through a severe injury when he was defeated by Rockhold, comes out victorious and retains his belt, both Silva and Bisping as opponents makes a lot of sense. For Silva, it would be the perfect redemption story of coming back from such a gruesome injury that was suffered against Weidman and getting back to belt he took from him. Also, due to how controversial and viral both of their fights were, it would do amazing PPV numbers and bring in a ton of revenue. A matchup between Bisping and Weidman would make a ton of sense as well because it would be an opponent that Weidman had never faced before, as well as the two fighters having bad blood. Back in August after a comment by Rockhold, Weidman tweeted “Wow This guy just made it real personal comparing me to Bisping. Reality is coming for you.”

Bisping responded by tweeting:

“@ChrisWeidmanUFC @MMAFighting all cocky now. Fake champion, beating has beens. Let’s see if they can bring back shamrock for your next fight.”

Clearly the two men have ill will towards each other and with Bisping being one of the most known trash talkers in the promotion, the fight would promote itself.

This bout for both Silva and Bisping is huge for their careers and a loss for either fighter would be detrimental to their careers, making the odds extremely difficult for them to ever get a shot at the belt.

Silva and Bisping have already begun some trash talk at the open workout where Bisping approached Silva making comments about not being a clean fighter and taking steroids his whole career. Both men will finally meet in less than a week in a bout that will have a huge impact on the next challenger for the title in the middleweight division.

About The Author

Jake Schneider
Staff Writer

Jake Schneider is a student at the University of Rhode Island who is currently looking to pursue a double major in Communications and Journalism. He is an MMA fanatic who has been following the sport for years. He began to share his wealth of knowledge and opinions on the sport to many of his family members and friends as well as various MMA forums online. His love and passion for the sport has been able to make many people that are a part of his life fans of mixed martial arts as well. His insight of the sport both inside and outside of the cage is what makes his analysis on fights and individual fighters so well informed.

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  • Dan Davis

    Good article. glad you hit on all the points needed, but to be fare, its worth mentioning that in the end Luke defeated Bisping with 1 arm!!! and completely demolished The Chris in the 3rd & 4th round it a fight 99% of ppl will say herb let go on too long.