The UFC will have another show in England this Saturday at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. The main event will be between middleweights Chris Leben and Michael Bisping.
There will be 11 fights scheduled for this card and the main card will be televised on Spike TV starting at 9 PM ET/PT.
Leben has a 17-4 record and Bisping is 17-1. Bisping’s only loss in the cage has been to Rashard Evans.
This will be Bisping’s third fight as a middleweight. He defeated Charles McCarthy and Jason Day in his first two fights in the middleweight division.
Both of these fighters are well-known and popular with fans. This is due to the fact that these two fighters were cast members on The Ultimate Fighter.
Leben was in the first season of the show and Bisping was in the third season. Bisping secured a UFC contract by defeating Josh Haynes and winning the show in season three.
Both of these fighters love to stand and trade so this has the makings to be a great fight. Bisping has looked good in his first two fights as a middleweight. Leben possesses a good chin along with a powerful left hand. If Bisping is not careful, he could get knocked out.
Fans in England will be all rooting for Bisping because he is British. Leben has been training in Hawaii.
The co-main event will be between light heavyweights Keith Jardine and Brandon Vera. If UFC 89 was being held in the United States, this match would probably be the headliner instead of Leben vs. Bisping.
Jardine, who has an unorthodox stance in the stand-up, is coming off a knockout loss to Wanderlei Silva at UFC 84. He hopes to rebound and put on a better showing on Saturday night.
Vera defeated Reese Andy in August by unanimous decision. Although he won the fight, Vera did not look impressive at all. Vera blamed his lackadaisical performance on his weight-cutting for the fight. Vera was used to fighting at around 225 pounds, but had to cut down to 205 for the fight with Andy.
This fight is extremely important to both fighters. This should be a highly competitive battle between two good fighters.
Here is the list of other fights on the main card:
Rameau Sokoudjou vs. Luiz Cane
Paul Taylor vs. Chris Lytle
Paul Kelly vs. Marcus Davis
With fighters like Lytle, Davis, and Leben on the card, UFC 89 should be very exciting. You can expect to see a lot of fights end by knockout.