Hit the Mat 10.13.08: Bisping Will Answer Some TUF Questions on Saturday

Posted by Matt McEwen on 10.13.2008

Is Bisping really a contender at 185lbs or is he more hype than reality? He'll answer a lot of questions either way when he steps in against Chris Leben Saturday night.

Bad, punny titles aside, this Saturday's main event is going to go a long way to telling the future of the middleweight division.

Yes, Anderson Silva is the king of the division, but he's also a division killer at the moment. Now that he's had a taste of 205lbs, I find it hard to believe that he won't at least be splitting his time between the two divisions. To be honest, I can't see him making more than one or two more title defenses after he (most likely) deals with Patrick Cote at the end of the month. If Silva does indeed leave the division, and with Rich Franklin and Dan Henderson making the move up a weight class as well, the middleweight division just might become the most young, dynamic and exciting in the UFC.

So who will step up and fill the void left by the near unanimous top three moving out of the division? If the UFC gets all that it wants, one man is going to take a big step Saturday night in England.

Since he won season three of the Ultimate Fighter, Michael Bisping has had as many critics as he has had fans - in other words, A LOT. The whole season of the show seemed to be building towards Bisping taking on Matt Hamill in the finals, but when Hamill was injured, it left Bisping as the almost anti-climactic winner. His first fight after winning the show was against Eric Schaefer, who had Bisping in trouble in the early goings before falling to the Brit.

Next up, he fought veteran B-level fighter Elvis Sinosec in Manchester and won, but not before getting dropped by a man with an 8-9-2 record. Staying in his home country, Bisping next got to fight Hamill in what many thought of as the real finals of TUF 3. This time the fight went the distance, and Hamill opened up some bad cuts on Bisping, but the Brit won a controversial decision that saw his home country fans boo him. (On a side note, I still contend that if you go back and watch that fight round for round, it's not as outlandish as it seemed that Bisping won.)

Still undefeated in record but not in the fans' eyes, Bisping took on Rashad Evans in the main event of UFC 78. He lost a split decision and finally gave into pressure to drop down to 185lbs, where his debut was a scintillating destruction of Charles McCarthy. It helped that McCarthy seemed unwilling to be anything more than punching bag, but it was a good debut nonetheless. His second fight at 185lbs was another good showing as he finished Canadian Jason Day in the first round. The skeptic could still say that Day - who took the fight on short notice and just 6 weeks after making his UFC debut - was less than fully prepared.

Now, the time is upon Bisping where he will get to answer all the questions about his style and just how much of a factor he'll be at middleweight. On Saturday night, he will step into the cage with Chris Leben in easily the biggest test of his three fights at 185lbs.

How strong is Bisping at 185?

As I mentioned, McCarthy offered very little opposition in any way, but Day has shown to be adept on the ground but was dominated by Bisping. While he was a smaller light heavyweight, Bisping appears to be benefitting from the "Franklin Factor" as the drop to middleweight appears to have given Bisping a size advantage in his first two fights.

Leben will tell just HOW strong Bisping is at this new weight though. A wrestler at his base, Leben features that deceptive strength long time wrestlers seem to have and, beyond that, is himself a larger middleweight. If Bisping is able to handle Leben with anything approaching ease, then you know that Bisping is at the top of the heap when it comes to strength in the division. While that may not mean everything in a fight, it certainly means something.

How much power does Bisping have in his fists?

While he's looked dynamic in his last two fights, to say that Bisping has shown anything approaching KO power would be a stretch. McCarthy looked pretty uninterested in fighting and while he scored a TKO over Day, he landed a lot of flush punches and didn't put Day out. This could spell trouble against Leben.

While there might be a few tougher chins in the sport than Leben's, there sure aren't many. Other than Silva, no one has been able to put him out, and some big, big hitters have landed flush shots only to have Leben answer right back. Knowing that he can take just about anyone's punch has given Leben a sense of security that usually results in him taking a flush shot or two at some point. That should give us the opportunity to see if 1)Bisping has KO power at 185 or 2)what he does when a fighter takes his punches and fights back. That second option leads to....

What kind of stamina does Bisping have with the weight cut?

The side effect of finishing two opponents who barely fought back is that we have no idea how much gas Bisping has in the tank since his weight cut.

This being his third fight in, he should have the cut made fairly easily, and he's looked in great shape rather than emaciated, but a war with Leben would really let us know where he's at in this department as well. If Leben's chin is good enough to walk through Bisping's shots, we'll get to see just how well Bisping is at pacing himself and trying to win a 15 minute decision. That may not be the most exciting skill in MMA, but it is an important one.

In essence, Leben represents the perfect opponent for Bisping at this point in his career. If he wins by KO - or even TKO - then it will be safe to start discussing him as a legit title contender. Even if he wins a decision, but does so in a relatively impressive manner, then you know he belongs at the top of the division as well, and is likely just one fight away - likely against someone like Jason MacDonald - from a title shot.

The danger for Bisping though - and the reason why this is a fight that can answer so many questions - is that Leben is a big threat to win this fight. As mentioned, he has a top level chin and has shown the ability to walk through power shots from everyone short of Anderson Silva and deliver nasty blows of his own. He's not coming into this fight, and after his last two wins and seeming re-dedication to conditioning, is looking to stake a claim to possible title shot himself. A win over Bisping would be the biggest of his career and would probably either set up a rematch against MacDonald, or a contenders bout against Yushin Okami or Damien Maia.

Whoever wins Saturday night, we should have a good idea a couple of the story lines of the division throughout the first half of 2009.