Sonnen vs. Bisping on UFC on Fox 2: Buckle Up, Folks

UFC President Dana White announced Tuesday via Twitter that Mark Munoz, due to an unfortunate injury, was forced drop out of his scheduled #1 contender fight on January the 28th versus fellow middleweight Chael Sonnen.  Sonnen will now face Michael Bisping (who was originally slated to face Damian Maia) in the co-main event of the UFC’s second Fox-televised card.  The man with his hand raised at the end of this fight will eventually get his chance to dethrone current UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva presumably in a stadium-sized event in Brazil later this Summer.

Changing such a highly anticipated matchup only two weeks before an event can be hazardous at best, but Sonnen vs. Bisping is a very marketable fight that the UFC has flirted with once before.  The two outspoken middleweights were reportedly on a collision course when they were in talks of becoming opposing coaches on the latest season of The Ultimate Fighter, but because of Sonnen’s lingering legal issues with the Nevada State Athletic Commission the UFC was forced to pass on Sonnen in favor of Jason “Mayhem” Miller.

Bisping (22-3) will walk into the Octagon on the 28th owning a 4-fight winning streak after defeating Miller by TKO late in round 3 at The Ultimate Fighter Finale last December.  After a 14-month absence from the sport,  Sonnen (26-11-1) returned last October at UFC 136 and was able to submit Brian Stann with an arm triangle choke in round 2.

With only a short time left to promote this fight one can only assume that Sonnen and Bisping, both of whom have done their part to heighten the fine art of “trash-talking” in the UFC, will assuredly elevate the level of verbal warfare sooner rather than later.  Buckle up, folks.  This is going to be a bumpy ride.  And one that you certainly won’t want to miss.

*photo courtesy of MMA Weekly*

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