The Octagon heads to Manchester, England, this Saturday with a solid card on pay-per-view. In the main event, middleweight champion Michael Bisping defends his belt for the first time against the legendary Dan Henderson.
Wait, wait, wait. Middleweight champion Michael Bisping? Challenger Dan Henderson?
Bisping stepped up on just two weeks’ notice to fight newly crowned kingpin Luke Rockhold back in June and knocked him out in the first round in a stunning upset. That same night, Henderson knocked out Hector Lombard in vicious fashion.
That set up an opportunity for revenge. Henderson flattened Bisping with an overhand right at UFC 100 back in 2009, one of MMA‘s iconic knockouts. Seven years later, Bisping will get his chance at payback.
It’s something of a silly fight, especially because Henderson is just 3-6 in his last nine outings, but this seemed to be the most marketable direction for the UFC to go. It bears watching whether fans will agree and fork over their money.
The rest of the card is up and down. The co-main event features Vitor Belfort vs. Gegard Mousasi in a potential barnburner of a middleweight bout, but that’s about it for interesting fights on the main card.
On the prelims, practically every bout features a hot prospect or should turn out to be an action fight. Keep a close eye on the Fight Pass headliner between Mike Perry and Danny Roberts, which should be a slugfest. The first fight on Fox Sports 1 features welterweight strikers Albert Tumenov and Leon Edwards, and that too should be a heck of a fight.
Let’s take a look at each individual matchup.