Legacy.
That’s what’s at stake when Michael Bisping and Anderson Silva meet in London on Saturday for the biggest event the UFC has ever put on its Fight Pass platform.
Silva won 16 fights to begin his UFC career, including 10 defenses of his middleweight title. A pair of losses—the first by knockout and the second via a devastating leg injury—to Chris Weidman knocked him off his throne and made the formerly immortal fighter look distinctly human. His return engagement against Nick Diaz became a no-contest after failed drug tests, and everything Silva has accomplished is now in question.
Bisping, on the other hand, has never reached such lofty heights. The promotion’s first star in the United Kingdom has been in the promotion since 2006 and has fought 24 times inside the Octagon, many of them as a headliner. Still, he has never broken through to the upper echelons of the division, and this likely represents his last shot at beating one of the elite.
Putting this event on Fight Pass is a gamble for the UFC as well. This fight would have drawn big numbers on Fox, Fox Sports 1 or even potentially on pay-per-view, and to make it Internet-only is a real test of what its homegrown platform can do now and in the future.
Outside of Bisping and Silva, this is a standard Fight Pass card stacked with local and regional fighters. Thales Leites and Gegard Mousasi meet in a solid co-main event, while bangers Francisco Rivera and Brad Pickett open up the main card.
Talented prospects such as Tom Breese, Makwan Amirkhani and Arnold Allen grace the rest of the card, and most of the fights offer something of interest.
Let’s take a look at each matchup.