UFC FIGHT NIGHT 30: BISPING VS. MUNOZ Date: October 26, 2013 Location: Manchester, UK Venue: Phones 4U Arena Broadcast: FOX Sports 1, Facebook UFC Middleweight Michael Bisping (-165) Profile: The brash Michael Bisping (24-5) always has something to say, and after winning Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter and going 10-4 in UFC, he has backed up his talk for the most part. Of late, Bisping has been developing the rest of his fight repertoire to supplement his solid striking skills. Now with the ground game to back up his stand-up, the 34-year-old Brit has been able to string together a number of impressive wins over the likes of Matt Hamill, Yoshihiro Akiyama, Chris Leben and Jason Miller at The Ultimate Fighter 14 Finale. In a middleweight title eliminator fight at UFC on FOX 3 against top middleweight title eliminator fight at UFC on FOX 2 against top middleweight contender Chael Sonnen, Bisping lost a highly controversial unanimous decision and then suffered a torn meniscus in his knee that caused him to withdraw from his matchup with Tim Boetsch. Following his recovery, he earned a unanimous decision win against Brian Stann at UFC 152 to put himself within striking distance of a middleweight title shot against champ Anderson Silva. Unfortunately for Bisping, Vitor Belfort did the striking in his latest bout and knocked him out in yet another title eliminator fight. Bouncing back from defeat, Bisping defeated Belcher fairly easily at UFC 159, showing off his fantastic conditioning and improved wrestling. Bisping looks to climb the ladder back into middleweight title contention yet another time, as he faces Mark Munoz in friendly territory, as the UFC visits the UK for UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Munoz. UFC Middleweight Mark Munoz (+125) Profile: Mark Munoz (12-3) is 7-2 in his last nine fights and 7-3 in the UFC, but he has not fought since suffering a brutal knockout loss at the hands and elbow of top middleweight contender Chris Weidman UFC on FUEL TV 4 nearly a year ago. Munoz was viewed as one of the top middleweights up until that point, and his loss played a big role in Weidman vaulting to the top and earning a title shot against champion Anderson Silva. The 35-year-old vet was riding a four-fight winning streak before losing to Weidman, beating Demian Maia at UFC 131 and Aaron Simpson at UFC 123 by unanimous decision and knocking out C.B. Dollaway at UFC on Versus 3 in addition to second-round TKO win over Chris Leben. The Mark Munoz freight train was derailed against eventual champion Chris Weidman, as a rusty Munoz coming off a year-long injury recovery was decimated with an elbow by Weidman. After this loss, Munoz fell into a deep depression, ballooning up to 260 pounds. The Filipino Wrecking Machine came back to reality in his training camp for Tim Boetsch, and returned to the Octagon looking more dominant than ever, absolutely brutalizing Tim Boetsch with his signature ground and pound at UFC 162. Opening UFC Fight Night 32 Analysis: MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas made Bisping a -165 favorite (bet $165 to win $100) while Munoz opened as a +125 underdog (bet $100 to win $125) at Several Bookmakers. This should be a very competitive fight and that’s why you see the line open where it has, with Bisping as a slight favorite due to the hometown advantage. Bisping will also have the better technical striking and cardio, but Munoz will have the power advantage and of course the edge in wrestling. Ultimately this fight will come down to who is able to control the center of the Octagon and considering the fight is going five rounds and both guys have lots of finishes on their resumes, there’s likely going to be a stoppage somewhere in this one within 25 minutes — but from whom it comes from is the question. Fighter profiles courtesy of Jason Nawara
