Michael Bisping is hot favourite to be named as one of the coaches on the new series of The Ultimate Fighter…
The UFC have not yet offered Bisping the coach’s role on TUF 9 because he is scheduled to fight Chris Leben at UFC 89 at the Birmingham National Indoor Arena on October 18.
But SunSport understands Dana White will immediately hand the British star a contract to appear on the show if he overcomes Leben next month.
It is believed Dan Henderson will coach the US team, with the TUF 9 finale featuring him in a clash for the #1 middleweight contender’s spot against Bisping, which could take place in December next year.
As the UFC’s only British star, it makes sense that the TUF 3 winner would be chosen as a coach for the “U.S. vs. U.K.” season of The Ultimate Fighter. But it also makes you wonder who will be picked to lead the British team if Bisping loses to Leben. We’re assuming it would still be Bisping — but then would a fight between him and Hendo really be a #1 contender match? When contacted by MMA Weekly, The Count confirmed that he hadn’t been made an offer yet, but he’d certainly be open to one:
“I saw it all over the internet the other night, U.K. vs. the U.S., I think it’s an amazing idea,” commented Bisping. “I think it might inject a little bit of life into the “Ultimate Fighter”. The “Ultimate Fighter” is a great show, but obviously you know it’s season after season, maybe this can mix it up a little bit. I think it will make some funny goings on in the house as well you know. All to do with the language barrier and the cultural differences and things like that. I think it’s a great idea and I look forward to seeing it.”
If this rumor turns out to be true, the best part about a Bisping vs. Hendo season of TUF is that it doesn’t tie up a championship belt like past seasons of the show have. Anderson Silva would still be free to defend his middleweight title and book light-heavyweight superfights as he pleases. Bisping is already popular enough to challenge for the title, and a win over Dan Henderson would cement his credibility. Unfortunately, there’s the even more likely scenario that Henderson would beat Bisping — and few fans are demanding a Silva/Henderson rematch at this point. Would you rather see Hendo get destroyed again, or Bisping get destroyed for the first time?
MMA Rated conducted an interview with Brandon Vera where he puts to rest rumors that he dodged a fight against Lyoto Machida at the July 19th UFC Fight Night 15 show as well as confirms that he was offered a fight against Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson but says they were in no shape to [...]
In an attempt to dispel the rumors that he may be a punk for avoiding Lyoto Machida, Brandon Vera claims he had good reasons for turning that fight down (he needs time to train with awkward kung fu enthusiasts) and insists that Wanderlei Silva and Dan Henderson both turned down fights against him. So now who’s the punk? Answer: everyone but Machida.
It’s all here in this MMA Rated video, where Vera goes on to say that he moved down to light heavyweight to take the fight against Reese Andy as “a favor”.
Seems like a lot of UFC fighters are doing favors in order to get this July 19 Anti-Affliction card off the ground. And you know what they say, fighters are like the mob when it comes to favors. One day — and that day may never come — they’ll call upon you and ask for a favor in return. That is what they say, right? If not, they should.
MMA Weekly reports that Dan Henderson’s next Octagon appearance will be a middleweight bout against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 88 (September 6th, Atlanta). Palhares (8-1) is the Brazilian Top Team rising star who pwned Ivan Salaverry so hardcore during his Octagon debut at UFC 84 that Salaverry retired from fighting. Henderson is coming off of back-to-back title fight losses, to Quinton Jackson at UFC 75 and Anderson Silva at UFC 82. Palhares has serious potential, to be sure, but his relative lack of experience puts him at a great disadvantage against one of the most accomplished fighters in the world. Still, if Palhares can pull off an upset, he’ll put himself in the mix for a middleweight title shot.
In other UFC fight-booking news…
— Joe Lauzon has agreed to fight Kyle Bradley at UFC Fight Night 15 (September 17th; Omaha, Nebraska). Bradley, a Team Voodoo product and veteran of various regional leagues, made his Octagon debut as a welterweight at UFC 81, where he was destroyed by Chris Lytle in 33 seconds. He’ll now be fighting at his natural weight of 155.
— Rory Markham, a Bettendorf-based IFL standout who most recently submitted Jay Ellis at Adrenaline 1 on June 14th, will be making his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night 14 (July 19th, Las Vegas). His opponent will be Brodie Farber, a former Rage in the Cage middleweight champion who’s won his last six fights in the MMA Xtreme organization.
— Thomasz Drwal, the Polish light-heavyweight whose 13-fight win streak was snapped by Thiago Silva at UFC 75, will make his second Octagon appearance at UFC 87 (August 9th, Minneapolis) against 5-0 IFL veteran Andre Gusmao. Drwal was slated to fight David Heath in February, but was forced to pull out of the bout with a knee injury.
When former light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was forced off the UFC 85 card with a hamstring injury, the organization scrambled to find a main event-worthy bout to take the place of his scheduled showdown with Rashad Evans at the O2 Arena in London, England.
Several possible fights were discussed, including a middleweight tilt between former UFC middleweight champion, Rich Franklin, and former Pride FC dual division belt holder, Dan Henderson.
In fact, according to a Yahoo!Sports.com report, “Ace” had to turn down the opportunity because he “felt after such a hard training camp that he wouldn’t be able to peak again so soon.” Franklin just dispatched of Travis Lutter via second round technical knockout at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ on April 19.
The interesting thing here is that even though the fight won’t take place on June 7, it is expected to go down later on this year.
That’s a fantastic match up — Franklin is proving that he is perhaps the second best 185-pound fighter in the world, defeating all comers since 2003 with the exception of Anderson Silva (lost twice).
On the other hand, Hendo needs to re-establish himself as one of the top pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. He’s lost two straight albeit to talented champions Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Silva.
And it wouldn’t get any easier with Franklin, but it would create some fireworks in a division that sorely needs them. It’s a nice clash of styles between two of the best in the sport.
This is going to be a hard one to predict if and when it goes off. Can’t wait.
Sidenote: Matt Hughes stepped up to take on Thiago Alves in the UFC 85 main event, as well as Michael Bisping and Chris Leben … not to mention James Irvin (he’ll take on Evans).
Alexander Karelin, Randy Couture, Mike Van Arsdale, Dan Henderson, Tom Erikson, Dan Gable, Rulon Gardner, Kurt Angle, Muhammad Ali, George Foreman. Take a look! With MMA rising in popularity, these could skyrocket in value. These will only be on auction for 7 days, so bid while you still can!
… is anyone’s guess at this point. In fact, the former Pride FC dual champion doesn’t even know what weight class he’s slated to compete in next, according to the Ottawa Sun:
“I have no idea who I’m fighting next, or when, or where. I don’t even know what weight class. I’m going to try to pin them down to get some answers on that this weekend.”
That’s probably his best bet, considering his next foe is more than likely fighting this weekend at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre 2″ at the Bell Centre in Montreal, Quebec.
There are six middleweight match ups booked for the pay-per-view (PPV) event, including the showdown between Rich Franklin and Travis Lutter.
Either Franklin or Lutter would be a nice next fight for Henderson. What do you think, Joe Silva?
(The Crippler was rewarded handsomely for his blood-loss.)
The UFC paid out a chunky $932,000 in official salaries and bonuses on Saturday night, with Anderson Silva unsurprisingly coming out the big winner. The amounts are below; these figures don’t include any undisclosed “locker room bonuses” that are often given out to headliners and other fighters who put on noteworthy performances.
Anderson Silva — $260,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win, plus $120,000 in bonuses) Dan Henderson — $160,000 ($100,000 to show, $60,000 for Fight of the Night bonus) Andrei Arlovski — $170,000 ($105,000 to show, $65,000 to win) Heath Herring — $140,000 ($70,000 to show, $70,000 to win) Chris Leben — $110,000 ($25,000 to show, $25,000 to win, $60,000 for Knockout of the Night bonus) Jon Fitch — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win) Diego Sanchez — $60,000 ($30,000 to show, $30,000 to win) Cheick Kongo — $30,000 Yushin Okami — $28,000 ($14,000 to show, $14,000 to win) Evan Tanner — $25,000 Josh Koscheck — $20,000 ($10,000 to show, $10,000 to win) Alessio Sakara — $17,000 Luigi Fioravanti — $16,000 ($8,000 to show, $8,000 to win) Luke Cummo — $16,000 Jorge Gurgel — $14,000 ($7,000 to show, $7,000 to win) Dustin Hazelett — $12,000 Chris Wilson — $12,000 Jake O’Brien — $11,000 David Bielkheden — $8,000 John Halverson — $3,000
Underpaid: Josh Koscheck, who is still finishing out the indentured servitude of his Ultimate Fighter contract. Overpaid: Luke Cummo, who didn’t do much that resembled work during his 15 minute grabass with Luigi Fioravanti.
… is anyone’s guess at this point. In fact, the former Pride FC dual champion doesn’t even know what weight class he’s slated to compete in next, according to the 
