After completely dominating Jason “Mayhem” Miller in the second and third rounds of The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale main event, it’s time for Michael Bisping to get his shot at Anderson Silva.
Realistically, Bisping probably just now entered the top five of the division with his win tonight and is sitting behind Chael Sonnen, Mark Munoz and Yushin Okami in the middleweight rankings, but due to the lack of competition at 185 lbs., Bisping could get a shot sooner than one might think.
Out of the four fighters above, it can be argued that Bisping has the strongest case of all of them to get a shot at Silva.
Okami is one of the best middleweights in the world, but he was just beaten badly by Silva in his last fight and needs to win quite a few fights to get another shot.
Munoz is on a four-fight win streak similar to Bisping’s, with wins over Aaron Simpson, C.B. Dollaway, Demian Maia and Chris Leben, but the UFC may be hesitant to throw Munoz in there with Silva since he is unknown by most casual fans.
Sonnen is clearly the fighter that the UFC would love to book in Silva’s next title fight, but let’s be honest, he has won only one fight since being finished by Silva at UFC 117.
The way the division sits now, it seems that the winner of Sonnen and Munoz’s fight on FOX in late January will receive the next title shot.
Even if Bisping has to take another fight before he gets a shot at Silva, it is clear that he deserves a title fight more than the rest of the top contenders.
“The Count” has beaten Dan Miller, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Jorge Rivera and Mayhem in his last four fights and has won five of his last six, with the lone loss coming via a close decision to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 110, a fight Bisping still believes he won.
If by some miracle Anderson Silva recovers in time to fight before the winner of Sonnen and Munoz is ready to get their shot, it should be Bisping that gets a crack at solving the puzzle that is “The Spider.”
While Bisping will be a huge underdog in the fight, and rightfully so, he has earned a shot to shock the world and the UFC should oblige him.
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