Michael Bisping is on the hunt for an Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) title and he knows that a win over mixed martial arts (MMA) legend like Anderson Silva will help him get one.
Bisping, who takes on “The Spider” in the main event of a Fight Pass exclusive UFC Fight Night 83 card in London on Feb. 27, 2016, is ready for the dangerous Brazilian and plans on adding to his two-fight win streak.
“The Count” recently told MMAmania.com that after he dismisses Silva, he will take aim at Luke Rockhold’s Middleweight championship:
“After I beat Anderson I will have won four of my last five, my only loss being to the current champion. There were mitigating circumstances in that fight, he headbutted me in the first round and then blood was getting in my eye. It was a real pain in the ass. There’s not many people in the middleweight division that can sell a fight quite like I can. Let’s be honest, they’re f–king boring. Give me a rematch with Luke Rockhold and I will sell the shit out of it. The PPV will be big. From a business standpoint it makes a lot of sense, but first I’ve got to get past Anderson.”
The native of Lancashire, U.K., fell via submission to Rockhold in Nov. 2014 and while what he says may very well be true, Bisping is right. He must get past Silva.
Bisping turns 37 the day after he meets Silva, who he’s publicly criticized for his past use of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Silva tested positive for a concoction of PEDs and anti-anxiety medication following a unanimous-decision win (later changed to a “No Contest”) over Nick Diaz in Jan. 2015.
Bisping’s thoughts on that here.
The “No Contest” brings Silva’s overall record to 0-2-(1) in his last three UFC outings, with his last legitimate victory coming against Stephan Bonnar in a Light Heavyweight bout back at UFC 153. Needless to say, it’s been quite a while since we’ve seen a dominant Silva.
Bisping, on the other hand, has called the Top 10 of the 185-pound division home for a long time, but he never managed a title shot. The boisterous Brit has alternated wins and losses for the last three years before rattling off two victories over C.B. Dollaway and former Middleweight title challenger Thales Leites in 2015.
With Vitor Belfort battling Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza in May, and ex-champion Chris Weidman all but assured a rematch with Rockhold, do you see any scenario where Bisping scores the elusive title shot in 2016 or beyond?
Let us know below.