Full Contact Fighter Database

Home

>

News

>

Article

Media

Wednesday, Jan 16, 2013

Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown:” Looking Ahead at Anderson Silva, Michael Bisping Must Beware of the Belfort Upset

Michael Bisping

By Joshua Molina

Let’s get real. Nobody believes Michael Bisping will be the guy to dethrone Anderson Silva.

It’s just not likely to  happen.

Unfortunately, UFC President Dana White said Bisping is in line for a title shot if he beats Vitor Belfort.

Bisping is clearly looking ahead, which could lead to an upset.

Listening to him talk, he barely believes Belfort belongs in the same cage with him, much less that it’s possible that he would lose.

Such overconfidence is dangerous. Belfort will have the Brazilian crowd behind him. And anytime two men fight, anything can happen.

The younger Bisping should win, but if Belfort is suddenly a better fighter because of his near-upset of Jon Jones, and pulls of a victory, there’s one guy who the UFC should look to to get the title shot: Strikeforce Middleweight Champ Luke Rockhold.

Rockhold possesses a style that could give Silva trouble. He’s tall, strong, can take a punch, and has excellent striking with his hands punches and kicks.

As he showed against Jacare Souza, Rockhold also has great submission defense.

Most importantly, Rockhold is hungry.

He could be the first guy to really test Silva since Chael Sonnen – except unlike Sonnen, Rockhold has power in his striking. With his movie star-looks, he also could be a marketing juggernaut for the UFC.

UFC has a very marketable fight with Bisping and Silva. The Bisping is wildly popular in England, and Silva, of course, is one of the greats.

But if Belfort pulls off the miracle that he nearly did against Jones, the UFC will have to rewrite the script for 2013 and Rockhold may be the perfect leading man to step in to the role of No. 1 contender.

 

posted by JoshuaM @ 8:14 pm
Have a comment about this story? Please share with us by filling out the fields below.

Comments are closed.