The word on the internet street today is that Wanderlei Silva will fight Michael Bisping, and not Yoshihiro Akiyama as originally planned, at the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s first event down under, February 23rd, in Sydney, Australia. News of the bout was first reported by Fighters Only Magazine, and since then both MMA Weekly and MMA Junkie, have apparently confirmed with their sources that the bout will happen.
According to the Junkie report, UFC President Dana White recently said on the outlet’s radio program that the Silva, Akiyama might not happen, but did not offer any clarification as to why. We’re guessing that despite Akiyama’s fame in South Korea and Japan, there’s no doubt he’s not exactly a household name with ‘ultimate fighting’ fans on this side of the Pacific, while Bisping remains one of the promotion’s more notable competitors. (In fact, recently we heard that Bisping is now more popular than Posh Spice in Britain…does that even mean anything?) As far as Wanderlei, well, just recall the reception he received from German fans during his bout with Rich Franklin. “The Axe Murder” put’s asses in the seats…
As far as the match-up? The UFC certainly hasn’t tossed Silva any tomato cans since he arrived in the promotion and once again he’ll have his work cut out for him with Bisping (although ‘cutting’ is something Silva has excelled at in the past). Bisping showed a lot of mental toughness in his recent win over Denis Kang; a lot of dudes would fold like a soggy tent with a BJJ black belt on top of them for that long, but “The Count” survived to administer the second round beat down.
