UFC London 2016 | Anderson Silva vs Michael Bisping | Preview

The UFC will be returning to London for the first time since 8th March 2014, with the main event scheduled to be Anderson Silva vs Michael Bisping in a middleweight bout. The former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva returns to the octagon after last competing on 31st January 2015. His last fight was against Nick Diaz, in Las Vegas. After originally winning the fight, the result was overturned and Silva was subsequently banned for one year due to testing positive for banned substances. It will be interesting to see if Silva returns to be the fighter he once was, or if the one year absence from the sport will take its toll on his performance.

Michael Bisping last fought on the 18th July 2015, in Glasgow, against Thales Leites. Bisping won the fight via split decision. Bisping, who is currently ranked number 7 in the UFC middleweight rankings, faces arguable the toughest fight of his career. Despite his age and year long stint away from the sport, Silva's record speaks for itself. Bisping will have the support from the home crowd, but will this be enough? If Bisping is to win the fight he should take encouragement from Chris Weidman's two wins and the first Silva vs Sonnen fight. Silva's only minor weakness is his takedown defence so Bisping should aim to take down Silva whenever possible and try to ground and pound him. However it is important that Bisping doesn't get caught in submission attempts as Silva can be lethal off his back.If the fight was to remain standing for any length of time, I can see Silva using his great kicks and boxing to take Bisping apart, potentially causing a quick stoppage. As a British fan, I am hopeful that Bisping is able to use the atmosphere to his advantage and get the win. However I can't see that happening and I predict Silva will finish Bisping in the first couple of rounds.

I will be attending this event live so I will be posting up my feedback following the event, however expect much more from in the months and weeks leading up to it. I will also be previewing other fights on the card shortly. Subscribe for more UFC London 2016 blog posts.

Peter Ashdown
https://twitter.com/PeterAshdown