Adil Sajjad previews the main fights from what promises to be a thrilling return to the UK for UFC.
The biggest mixed-martial-arts organisation on the planet will return to east London this weekend as arguably the greatest-of-all-time Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva takes on Mancunian legend Michael ‘The Count’ Bisping at the O2 Arena.
With a combined record of over 60 wins and a wealth of experience at the highest level between them, both fighters will be looking to reassert themselves in a middleweight title picture that they currently lie on the periphery of.
Sharing top billing will be Gegard Mousasi and Thales Leites, squaring off in a bid to return to winning ways. The Brazilian will hope a victory over Mousasi will re-ignite the type of form that saw him win eight in a row before narrowly losing to main-eventer Bisping via split decision. With both fighters currently at the edge of the top-10 middleweight rankings, a win either way could have ramifications higher up the rankings.
East-London pioneer Brad ‘One-Punch’ Pickett will also make an appearance in his hometown against the wild and heavy-handed Francisco Rivera. However, with three losses for each in their last four fights, both bantamweights find themselves in strange territory. After suffering two losses out of three during his failed flyweight experiment, ‘One-Punch’ will be hoping that he can return to winning ways in his second fight at his natural weight at 135lbs.
Do-Or-Die
Before that, ‘Stormin’ Norman Parke will face Dagestani SAMBO-format king Rustam Khabilov in an intriguing match-up that is likely a do-or-die affair for both fighters. With two losses in their last three for each fighter, these two (still very promising) warriors are in danger of falling foul of the oft-referenced ‘three strikes and you’re out’ policy that influences fighter-releases so often.
Further down the card, promising prospects Mike Wilkinson and Makwan Amirkhani will face off in a featherweight clash that takes place just outside the official rankings. Both fighters have shown potential in their previous UFC bouts with the eccentric Amirkhani in particular earning admirers for his spectacular eight-second flying knee TKO of Andy Ogle in 2015.