The UFC returns with another double-header on August 23rd, as the promotional travels to both China and Oklahoma for UFC Fight Night’s 48 and 49. UFC Fight Night 48 will be live from Macau, China with preliminary action kicking off at 6:30am ET and the main card starting at 9am ET. The entire 10-fight card, both prelims and main, will be streaming live on UFC Fight Pass. The co-main event in Macau will be a welterweight contest between “Stun Gun” Don Hyun Kim and Tyron Woodley, who is stepping in as a late injury replacement for his training partner and Kim’s original opponent, Hector Lombard. Woodley is making a quick turnaround following his unanimous decision loss against Rory MacDonald at UFC 174 two months ago. The defeat surely left a bad taste in his mouth and he was eager to take this fight when getting the call from the promotion. Knowing that a win over Kim will put him right back in the title hunt, I expect the former Strikeforce welterweight title challenger to go all out in this his third consecutive co-main event outing. “Stun Gun” was last seen inside the Octagon five months ago, knocking out the Brit John Hathaway with a spinning back elbow in the third round of action, making it back-to-back knockout victories for the Korean, and four wins in a row. Looking to make it five straight and position himself for a number one contender bout for his next outing, Kim will be looking to continue his dominance and showmanship by doing what Rory MacDonald couldn’t and finishing Woodley. Both welterweights are anxious to make a statement, so I expect we will be in for fireworks and a potential ‘Fight of the Night’. The main event of the Chinese evening will be a five round middleweight tilt between The Ultimate Fighter season three winner Michael “The Count” Bisping, and MMA’s modern day Bruce Lee in Strikeforce veteran Cung Le. While it is a rare winner vs loser match-up, I expect this to be one heck of a barn burner; and whether it goes the distance or ends via finish is, in my opinion, a real 50/50. Bisping last saw action at the TUF: Nations Finale nearly four months ago, dropping a unanimous decision to another Strikeforce veteran in Tim Kennedy. “The Count” is now 2-3 in his last five fights and is eager to get back in the win column and ultimately put together another streak. Le has not stepped foot inside the Octagon in nearly two years, last defeating former UFC middleweight champion Rich Franklin via knockout in the very first round of action. He now rides a two fight winning streak and will be looking to make it three in a row against Bisping, and a claim for a title shot against the winner of Weidman vs Belfort, or possibly position himself in case Belfort is not able to fight and the champ needs a replacement opponent. Most of the UFC Fight Night 48 fight card is yawn-worthy, but this main event will surely have fight fans wide awake. Whether they want to see him win or lose, everybody wants to see Michael Bisping fight; and Cung Le is a rarity in the middleweight division, he is surely something special. Knowing he could potentially retire after every fight, and at the most has a few left in him, every time he steps inside the cage deserves every fight fans undivided attention. Rounding up the four-fight main card will be a lightweight contest between China’s Zhang Lipeng and Australia’s Brendan O’Reilly, and getting the action going will be a featherweight match-up between promotional newcomers Guangyou Ning and Jianping Yang.
