A middleweight bout between Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping (22-4) and Tim ‘The Barbarian’ Boetsch (15-4) has been announced for this July’s upcoming UFC 148 event in Las Vegas.
Promotion officials announced the bout at UFC.com on Monday, indicating that the matchup “could have major implications for the 185 title picture.”
UFC 148 is the first event earmarked for July 2012 and is expected to take place on the seventh at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. The pay-per-view event is expected to host the UFC bantamweight title rematch between champion Dominick Cruz and challenger, Urijah Faber.
Bisping is coming off a controversial unanimous decision loss to Chael Sonnen in January at UFC on FOX 2, in a No. 1 contender match. It was the first loss in five bouts for ‘The Count’ who earned four straight victories since losing a decision to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110. The wins in that streak were against Jason Miller, Jorge Rivera, Yoshihiro Akiyama, and Dan Miller.
Boetsch earned a third round TKO stoppage over Yushin Okami at UFC 144 last month, in one of the biggest comebacks seen in the Octagon. Okami looked to have the fight well in hand, controlling the fight for the first two rounds. Boetsch came out firing in the third, catching ‘Thunder’ with a head kick, which wobbled the Japanese fighter, before using his fists to pull out the come from behind stoppage. The win was ‘The Barbarian’s’ third straight since dropping down to middleweight.