Silva vs.Bisping On UFC Fight Pass

UFC President Dana White has announced that former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson "the Spider "Silva, will be making his UFC return against Michael "the Count" Bisping in London.  The fight will take place on February 27 and air exclusively on UFC Fight Pass.  This fight will be the first fight for Silva since his five round clash with Nick Diaz at UFC 183 in January.  This should be an excited fight that is years in the making.

Who wins in the Anderson Silva vs. Michael Bisping bout?

Anderson Silva

Michael Bisping

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Is the Bisping/Silva fight a big enough draw to get you to subscribe to UFC Fight Pass?

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Anderson Silva Returning in 2015

Former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson Silva, was last seen in action at UFC 168 in which he tried to recover the UFC title that he lost at UFC 162 to Chris Weidman.  During their clash, Anderson Silva broke his leg throwing a kick that was checked by Chris Weidman.  Since that moment Silva has been out of action trying to recover from his injury.  Silva quickly underwent surgery and has slowly been recovering and even sharing videos of him training on his various social media accounts.  This week, Anderson Silva's doctor in Brazil has cleared him to begin training and resuming his MMA career.  MMA H.E.A.T.'s Karyn Bryan sat down with Silva and asked him about his future in MMA.



Silva is expecting to return in 2015 and doesn't yet have an opponent in mind yet.  Many are buzzing about possibly seeing a bout that has seemed to elude the UFC fans for years--a fight between Silva and Michael Bisping.  I personally wouldn't mind seeing Silva go up to 205lb for a fourth time or possibly see him face Vitor Belfort or Rich Franklin in a rematch.  Franklin believes that he could defeat Silva if he got his hands on Silva for a third time.  Franklin has one last fight on his contract and I wouldn't be opposed to another round of Silva and Franklin.  If Penn can get a third shot at Edgar in a similar situation, why shouldn't we see Franklin try to redeem himself against the man who took his title?  Also a super fight with Georges St. Pierre has been buzzed about, but I'd rather see a clash with Franklin, Belfort or Bisping over a fight with GSP.  Who would you all like to see the Spider face?

Kennedy Suffers Broken Hand in Bisping Fight

Former Army Ranger and current UFC Middleweight, Tim Kennedy, suffered a broken hand last night at the TUF Nations Finale.  Kennedy called out top-ten UFC Middleweight, Michael Bisping during the end of last year and finally got to pit his skills against Bisping. Kennedy put up a less-than-spectacular performance against a ring-rusted Michael Bisping last night and was able to win over all three judges and get the unanimous decision. Kennedy turned the fight into grappling match instead of a true MMA fight. While they were standing,  Kennedy did manage to catch Bisping a few times with his right hand.  It's not an impressive victory whatsoever, but the punches thrown were enough to damage his hand.

TUF Nations Finale: Event Results/Post Fight Conference

Main Card:
Tim Kennedy def. Michael Bisping via unanimous decision
Patrick Cote def. Kyle Noke via unanimous decision
Elias Theodorou def. Sheldon Westcott via second-round TKO
Chad Laprise def. Olivier Aubin-Mercier via split decision
Dustin Poirier def. Akira Corassani via second-round TKO

Preliminary Card:
K.J. Noons def. Sam Stout via first-round KO
Sarah Kaufman def. Leslie Smith via unanimous decision
Ryan Jimmo def. Sean O'connell via KO in round 1
George Roop def. Dustin Kimura via unanimous decision
Mark Bocek def. Mike de la Torre via split decision
Nordine Taleb def. Vik Grujic via unanimous decision
Richard Walsh def. Chris Indich via unanimous decision
Mitch Gagnon def. Tim Gorman via unanimous decision

TUF Nations Finale: Weigh-in Results

Main Card:

Michael Bisping (186) vs. Tim Kennedy (186)
Patrick Cote (170) vs. Kyle Noke (171)
Elias Theodorou (185) vs. Sheldon Westcott (184)
Olivier Aubin-Mercier (169) vs. Chad Laprise (170)
Akira Corassani (145) vs. Dustin Poirier (145)

Preliminary Card:

K.J. Noons (168) vs. Sam Stout (169)
Sarah Kaufman (135) vs. Leslie Smith (135)
Ryan Jimmo (205) vs. Sean O’Connell (204)
Dustin Kimura (136) vs. George Roop (135)
Mark Bocek (156) vs. Mike De La Torre (156)
Vik Grujic (186) vs. Nordine Taleb (185)
Chris Indich (170) vs. Richard Walsh (171)
Mitch Gagnon (135) vs. Tim Gorman (135)

Machida Not Opposed to Facing Jacare or Bisping

Former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida looked great at UFC Fight Night 36 in Brazil this past weekend against Gegard Mousasi.  Though it has come out that Gegard Mousasi landed more strikes than Lyoto Machida, Machida was still able to walk away with the victory.  Machida felt that the win over Mousasi was enough to earn him a title shot, but he wouldn't be opposed to taking another fight until he gets the title shot.  When speaking of a possible shot or future opponents, he mentioned two names.  Those names were "Jacare" Souza and Michael Bisping.  Michael Bisping has already signed an agreement to fight Tim Kennedy in a few months, but Jacare who also fought on the same night as Machida hasn't already agreed to face another opponent.  Machida and Jacare share a common training partner in former UFC Middleweight Champion, Anderson "the Spider" Silva.

Which fighter would you prefer to see Lyoto Machida face if he must earn another win before fighting for the title?--Tough Spar MMA

Jacare Souza

Michael Bisping

Other

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Bisping and Kennedy Ready for Battle

After an eye injury that has left "The Count" Michael Bisping has finally been cleared by his doctor to compete again.  Bisping was pulled from his last fight against Mark Munoz before it could even happen due to the injury. Bisping already had agreed to fight Tim Kennedy whom he had been feuding with via the MMA schoolyard known as Twitter.  The two men will meet at the TUF Nations finale in Quebec.  This will be Tim Kennedy's biggest name opponent in his professional career and also the toughest test since joining the UFC.

New Options in the Middleweight Realm

With Anderson Silva passing the torch to Chris Weidman with his recent fight-stopping injury, there are new possible fights in the UFC's Middleweight Division.  Though the injury to Silva is tragic if not sad for any MMA fan, it is not a complete loss to followers of the UFC.  If Silva were to have won his fight, we would've been seeing a rematch of a fight that we had already seen in the last few years with Vitor Belfort guarenteed a title shot against the winner.  Vitor Belfort has improved since his last fight with Silva, but the fight against Silva was a quick knockout not a closely contended fight.  Though both Silva and Belfort are knockout artists, one could not convince me that Belfort would even stand a chance against Silva in a rematch.

With Silva away and probably never getting a title shot or even fighting again at the current age of 38, Weidman and the UFC can finally move on.  One of the beautiful things manifesting from such an ugly ending, is a fresh match up between Vitor Belfort and Chris Weidman.  Had Weidman not won against Silva this past weekend we may have never seen or considered a match between the two of these amazing competitors.  It will be a mtach that will showcase the champion's raw athleticism and great wrestling against Vitor Belfort's experience, striking and amazing power-striking. I predict that Weidman will get the better of Belfort in their match, but with Belfort anything is possible.

There are other options lurking about at 185 lbs like former Strikeforce Middleweight Jacare Souza who is 2-0 in his UFC career after his TKO victory over Yushin Okami. Silva had said before that he would never face his teamates Jacare Souza and Lyoto Machida if the UFC wished to have him face either man for any reason. He even went as far as to say that he would surrender the title so that Souza or Machida could fight for the belt had that time come.  Souza has great killer instincts and finishing abilities. His two wins in the UFC were both stoppages, one a submission and the second a TKO. Souza 100% has a chance to potentially stop Weidman or any other man to wear the UFC Middleweight Championship. He faces Francis Carmont who is on a six-fightwin streak since joining the UFC.

Who remembers the words 'the Machida era?' I do. I would love to see the Machida Era truly start considering the original era at 205 was derailed by Shogun Rua by way of KO. Lyoto Machida was guanteed to be the man to face Jon Jones for the UFC on many occassians and then it wouldnt fall through. I believe that Lyoto Machida was definitely the second best 205 lb fighter in the UFC, after Jones, before he fled to the UFC's Middleweight Division following a poor judge's decision loss to Phil Davis at UFC 163. In his middleweight debut, Machida ran through Mark Munoz with a head kick knock out. He is now set to face Gegard Mussasi in early 2014 and with a victory over Gegard we could possibly see Machida fighting for the title in late 2014 or early 2015.

Other fighters who could potentially get title shots soon would be Michael Bisping, Luke Rockhold and Mark Munoz. 

Tim Kennedy Wants Bisping, Worried That Bisping Will Chicken Out

After his recent KO victory over Rafael Natal at UFC Fight for the Troops earlier this month, Tim Kennedy mentioned that he would be open to a fight with Michael Bisping as a possible next opponent.  Bisping agreed and said he was willing to fight Kennedy and that Kennedy should go ahead and make the call to the UFC so that the two of them can fight, but recently Bisping who is still chasing a UFC Middleweight Title Fight has stated that he would like a higher ranked opponent than Tim Kennedy.  Kennedy feels that Bisping is trying to dodge him and feels that he will chicken out of the fight believing that he feels he will lose to Kennedy.  Bisping then responded on that he has never backed out of a fight and that if Kennedy wants the fight, he should just ask for it.

This would be a great fight to make considering where both of these guys are in their careers.  Both men are possible title challengers in the next few years and need impressive wins to get there and a win over the other could be big for both men.  Big for Bisping in the fact that a victory for him would mean that he can still hang with the up-and-comers of the UFC Middleweight Division.  Big for Kennedy in the fact that he can better a long time contender in the UFC.  Only time will tell if this fight ever comes into fruition.

Machida Replaces Bisping in Munoz Bout

After suffering an eye injury, Michal Bisping is being replaced by Lyoto Machida in his bout with Mark Munoz. Lyoto Machida was originally scheduled to fight Tim Kennedy in his debut at 185 lbs but was instead pulled to take Michael Bisping's place. Tim Kennedy is currently without an opponent for his Main Event fight at UFC Fight for the Troops 3. Time Kennedy has stated that he is heartbroken that he will not get to face Machida, but he is eager to get a new opponent.