This event will go down in history for the UFC. Not only does it pit two undefeated fighters looking for the next big break in their career, but it also features winners from UFC’s reality series “The Ultimate Fighter” squaring off for the first time. Michael “The Count” Bisping sports a record of 15-0, while opponent “Sugar” Rashad Evans has won 15 of his 16 fights with the one blemish being a draw. The winner of this “first of its kind” fight will most likely find themselves in great position to fight light-heavyweight champion, and a man that has been on an unprecedented “Rampage” through the UFC, Quinton Jackson.
Bisping won the third season of “The Ultimate Fighter,” and has shown his success has been no fluke, as he continues to rise up the rankings. Since beating Josh Haynes in the finale of “The Ultimate Fighter,” Bisping has been on three UFC cards. At UFC 66, he defeated Eric Schafer by a TKO is the first round. In his second fight he would have to go two rounds in order to beat Elvis Sinosic, also by TKO. After his victory against Sinosic at UFC 70, he would next face his toughest challenge to that time at UFC 75, Matt Hamill. Hamill had only had three rights, but he was also a challenger on the same season of the show as Bisping. Bisping was able to eek out a split decision victory over Hamill, further propelling him up the rankings and popularity charts. What should be noted about Bisping is that he had previous experience in MMA before his UFC days. While those fights were in generally small arenas against people many fans have never heard of, it ultimately helped in his development, giving him fighting experience. He’ll need all he has learned in the past when he steps into the ring against Evans.
Evans won the second season of “The Ultimate Fighter” when he defeated Brad Imes by a split decision. Much like Bisping, Evans also had some previous fighting experience prior to the start of his UFC career, although, not quite as much. While it is sometimes hard to judge exactly how many fights one has had due to certain organizations not existing anymore and things like that, it is apparent Evans had at least a handful of fights. Evans first victory after his win was Imes was also a split decision victory, this time coming over Sam Hoger. Believe it or not, his next fight was also a decision, this time a majority decision victory over long time fighter Steven Bonnar. Finally, at UFC 63 he recorded a KO victory against Jason Lambart. Following this fight he also stopped Sean Salmon, before finally being unlucky in the scorecards with a draw against UFC legend Tito Ortiz. One day the lucky decisions may run out for Evans, but against a tough striker like Bisping it might not even make it that far.
Despite the abundance of close decisions on his record Evans has beat the better competition. That is most likely the reason that he is currently a little more than a two to one favorite.
The under card is also very solid, with a lot of contenders that could be the next wave of UFC superstars. Thiago Silva takes on Houston Alexander, Joe Doerksen challenges Ed Herman and filling out the main part of the under card is the tough Ryo Chonan taking on game Karo Parisyan.
Tune in this Saturday for one of the best UFC cards of the year, only on PPV.
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