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[trustkill]

Michael Bisping vs. Alan Belcher Slated For UFC 159 Co-Headliner

A middleweight tilt between division standouts Michael Bisping (23-5) and Alan Belcher (18-7) will co-headline April's UFC 159.

ESPN.com confirmed the booking with UFC officials on Wednesday.

UFC 159 takes place on April 27 at Newark, New Jersey's Prudential Center and airs live on pay-per-view. In the main event, reigning light heavyweight champ Jon Jones will look to defend his crown against ex-middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen. Additional bouts include Roy Nelson taking on Cheick Kongo, Vinny Magalhaes locking horns with Phil Davis, and Jim Miller facing Pat Healy.

Bisping recently had his dreams of a title shot cut short — at least for now — after suffering a vicious knockout to Vitor Belfort earlier this month. The British standout had won five of his last six prior to the loss, including victories over Brian Stann and Jason "Mayhem" Miller.

Belcher too will look to get back on the winning track after coming up short on points to Yushin Okami last month. The defeat snapped a four-fight win streak for "The Talent", which included stoppages of Patrick Cote, Jason MacDonald and Rousimar Palhares.

Yea I definitely called this match up after Bisping lost to Vitor. Both he and Belcher were in that #1 contender category at middleweight. I really can't call this fight. Makes sense and should be a good one. Kudos.

[trustkill]

Michael Bisping will face Alan Belcher in co-main event at UFC 159 - ESPN

A middleweight bout between Michael Bisping and Alan Belcher will serve as the co-main event for UFC 159 on April 27 in Newark, N.J.

UFC officials confirmed the 185-pound contest to ESPN.com. A light heavyweight title fight between Jon Jones and Chael Sonnen will headline the event.

Both fighters will look to get back into title contention following recent losses. Bisping (23-5) lost a guaranteed title shot against Anderson Silva when he suffered a second-round knockout loss to Vitor Belfort earlier this year.
The Brit had won five of his last six prior to the loss. Bisping holds an overall record of 13-5 in the Octagon. He has never fought for a UFC title.

Belcher (18-7) had also been a strong No. 1 contender candidate before dropping a unanimous decision to Yushin Okami at UFC 155 in December. The 28-year-old had put together a four-fight win streak ahead of the loss that included three first-round stoppages.

UFC officials have previously announced a heavyweight fight between Roy Nelson and Cheick Kongo, a lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Pat Healy and a light heavyweight contest between Phil Davis and Vinny Magalhaes for UFC 159.

[AnchorPunch]

YYYEEEEEEESSS!!!!!

It's a step down for Bisping, arguably, but as a Belcher fan I LOVE this fight.

Belcher's kickboxing makes for an interesting fight against Bisping. I also think that Bisping's offensive wrestling has been a bit overrated while Belchers TDD might be underrated. Bisping struggled in round one to get Stann down and even got reversed; Belcher actually pulled guard on Okami who had more difficulty taking him down this time. Overall, I think this remains a strikefest with Bisping using a lot of footwork and then looking to put Belcher against the cage and rough him up.

As a Belcher fan, I want to see him use this fight to get back in the mix. But he has pretty awful fight IQ (it's painful when Belcher and Kampmann are two of your favorites) and I don't think he'll stand up to the cage work of Bisping, which will be the deciding factor IMO.

[Luc1an]

hopefully Fat Elvis puts Mike to sleep! I like this fight.

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

Helluva, HELLUVA fight, one that will really test Bisping's mettle against a really diverse fighter.

Bisping has a really solid periphery kickboxing game and will probably look to eventually wade in and press the action against the cage in the clinch and lean on Alan, while Alan will look to time Bisping's sometimes predictable footwork, break him down with his superior muay thai and could probably outwork Bisping on the ground with superior submission grappling.

Both of these guys are very big MWs and I think this fight probably comes down to Bisping's ability to kickbox out of Belcher's range without getting lost and backed up, while safely neutralizing Belcher akin to how Okami did. Belcher could probably light Bisping up if Bisping chooses to outright stand with him.

Bisping can gameplan him to a decision, but I said the same about the Vitor fight and his striking just devolved and made him easy pickings. I'll take Belcher via Rd. 2 TKO.

[carbondioxide830]

bisping get's ko'd with 2 shots that would likely put any human being on the planet down and now everytime he's in the octagon, people expect him to get ko'd...STFU. bisping out points belcher all day and we KNOW this.

[Repenter]

i see bisping outpointing belcher. he should be able to keep scoring his counter-jabs throughout the fight with his superior footwork, and he isn't easy to take down.

if not, hot damn.

[Pasha K]

Bisping by UD

[KevoOnTheRadio]

Originally Posted by carbondioxide830

bisping out points belcher all day and we KNOW this.

No we don't.

[Bearded Big Country]

I think Belcher could KO him just like Belfort. Belcher has a hell of a Kickboxing and muai Thai game